West Europe Car Market Grows 12.2% Driven by French Rebates
10/17/96
Reuters has reported that the imminent expiration of rebates for new cars with old trade-ins offered by the French government has artificially inflated French car sales and the whole West European car market. The European car manufacturers association (ACEA) announced a 12.2 percent jump in new car registrations in September, from 865,600 a year ago to 971,600 units this September. ACEA says the French incentives distorted the market and that prospects for the rest of this year and next do not look good.
Cumulative sales figures for this year have shown a 6.7 percent increase over last year's figures, reaching more than 10 million new cars in the 15-nation European Union plus Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
September's growth was carried by an 85.7 percent jump in French sales, while major European markets like Britain and Italy weakened.
James Rosenstein, ACEA's director of communications, said a rush of French new car buyers took advantage of the French incentive scheme for new cars during its last month. The French government introduced the rebates--called "Juppettes" for French Prime Minister Alain Juppe--a year ago when the French auto market began to crumble after a previous 17-month rebate scheme expired. The new-cars-for-old rebate program lifted year-to-date French car sales by 13.6 percent, compared to last year.
Rosenstein said, "If you are removing the artificial incentives to the market, the underlying trend (in western Europe) is still not that good . . . We don't expect the end of the year to be good . . . and next year we don't expect good growth at all."
ACEA revised its forecast for the year to overall growth of more than four percent, but this figure still falls below the increase in the first nine months of 1996. The west European market has recovered somewhat since it plummetted 16 percent in 1993, but hasn't come close to its 1992 peak. Rosenstein remarked that "nobody expects it to get back to that peak by the end of this century."
Reuters published the following provisional figures for West European new car registrations and market share in September. ACEA released the figures on Monday.
Sept. 1996 1995-1996 Sept. 1996 Sept. 1995
New Car Percent Percent Percent
Brand Registration Change Market Share Market Share
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All brands 971,600 +12.2 100.0 100.0
Volkswagen 171,500 +12.9 17.7 17.5
PSA 128,241 +29.1 13.2 11.5
GM 116,984 +11.2 12.0 12.2
Renault 106,380 +34.5 10.9 9.1
Japanese 104,658 +6.8 10.8 11.3
Ford 102,030 -0.7 10.5 11.9
Fiat 99,800 +3.9 10.3 11.1
BMW 56,655 +2.3 5.8 6.4
Mercedes 36,600 +18.3 3.8 3.6
Korean 21,014 +28.5 2.2 1.9
Volvo 19,088 -4.9 2.0 2.3
(Volkswagen includes Audi, Seat, Skoda. GM includes Opel/Vauxhall, U.S. imports, Saab, IBC/ISUZU. Ford includes U.S. imports, Jaguar. Fiat includes Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Innocenti, Ferrari, Maserati. PSA includes Peugeot, Citroen. Japanese includes Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Mitsubishi, others. BMW includes Rover. ACEA provides no breakdown for the Korean figures.)
Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel