18 Feb 17
News

Dynamic EU car sales compensate for January slump in US and China

parking lot at Oakland Airport

In January, new car sales across 30 European countries totaled 1,170,220 units, up 10.2% compared with the same month last year, which saw 6.5% growth over January 2015. This January was the best for automotive sales since 2008, ACEA reported.

Double-digit growth was recorded in Spain (+10.7%), France (+10.6%), Germany (+10.5%) and Italy (+10.1%); the UK was the only big market to grow in the single digits (+2.9%) - still, a record for January (174 564 units). Together, the Big Five represent 68% of new car registrations in Europe. 

Only three countries witnessed negative growth: Ireland (-1,8%), Switzerland (-3,7%) and Slovakia (-1,2%).

Of the major brands, only Mazda saw its sales retreat (-9,1% to 18,247 units). Market leader Volkswagen rose 10% to 140,273 units, a 11,6% market share. Ford, in second place, saw its sales increase 9,5% to 83,903 units, with Opel (+5,3% to 75,277 units) in third place.

Renault (+10% to 74,041 units) and Peugeot (+10,3% to 72,653 units) saw sales progress in line with the market average, with Citroën underperforming (+6% to 45,463 units) and DS losing 32,9% to 3,776 units.

Mercedes (+15,6% to 65,801 units) takes the lead in the premium segment, Audi (+3.1% to 63,717 units) drops to second place, with BMW on third (+10.6% to 60,753 units).

Europe's dynamic January sales contributed to a net global growth of 4.1% in January, to  
a total of 7.31 million new car and LCV registrations. Last January saw an increase of 4,6% over the previous one. 

The positive result is all the more remarkable because of the disappointing results in both China (+2,7%) and the U.S. (-0,5%), which together represent more than half of global automotive sales. 

The Japanese market, which fell 1.9% in January 2016, rose 4.9% last month. India, the world's fourth-largest automotive market, was the only BRICS economy to realise double-digit growth (+13.9%). Brazil (-4,1%) and Russia (-5%) have yet to come out of their sales tailspin. Argentina, 15th automotive market globally, saw 67% growth in January, following a strong 2016, when it averaged 9% growth. 

Image: public domain

Authored by: Frank Jacobs