Europe's Future According To J.D. Power

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

One by one, European countries will scrap their scrappage incentives this year (if they haven’t already.) With predictable results: Without the governmental amphetamine, the market will be down. How much?

All in all, Europeans will buy around 10 percent fewer cars in 2010 than in 2009, predicted J.D. Power at their spring conference in Cologne. Automobilwoche [sub] was there and took notes.

In the pictures-speak-louder-than words dept., J.D. Power’s prediction for 2010 can be seen above. That’s a fairly easy call.

Now on to the trickier prognosis: How will 2011 fare in comparison with 2010? We don’t know what brand of tea-leaves J.D. Power is using, but here is what they think will happen next year:

The European market won’t be back to its former 2008 glory before 2015, reckons J.D. Power.

In case you are curious: REN-NIS is not a new Chinese player, it stands for Renault and Nissan. Anyway: J.D. Power predicts a great future for their long-time clients Ford and Toyota.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • B1msus93 B1msus93 on May 05, 2010

    +11% after -16% is still -7% from 2009 not that great for Toyota

  • Ronin Ronin on May 05, 2010

    One thing I've learned is to pay no attention to any analyst predictions unless I can see a track record. Let's see JDP's predictions vs. actuals for that market for each of the last 10 years. Then people will be able to determine for themselves whether they have any credibility.

  • David Murilee Martin, These Toyota Vans were absolute garbage. As the labor even basic service cost 400% as much as servicing a VW Vanagon or American minivan. A skilled Toyota tech would take about 2.5 hours just to change the air cleaner. Also they also broke often, as they overheated and warped the engine and boiled the automatic transmission...
  • Marcr My wife and I mostly work from home (or use public transit), the kid is grown, and we no longer do road trips of more than 150 miles or so. Our one car mostly gets used for local errands and the occasional airport pickup. The first non-Tesla, non-Mini, non-Fiat, non-Kia/Hyundai, non-GM (I do have my biases) small fun-to-drive hatchback EV with 200+ mile range, instrument display behind the wheel where it belongs and actual knobs for oft-used functions for under $35K will get our money. What we really want is a proper 21st century equivalent of the original Honda Civic. The Volvo EX30 is close and may end up being the compromise choice.
  • Mebgardner I test drove a 2023 2.5 Rav4 last year. I passed on it because it was a very noisy interior, and handled poorly on uneven pavement (filled potholes), which Tucson has many. Very little acoustic padding mean you talk loudly above 55 mph. The forums were also talking about how the roof leaks from not properly sealed roof rack holes, and door windows leaking into the lower door interior. I did not stick around to find out if all that was true. No talk about engine troubles though, this is new info to me.
  • Dave Holzman '08 Civic (stick) that I bought used 1/31/12 with 35k on the clock. Now at 159k.It runs as nicely as it did when I bought it. I love the feel of the car. The most expensive replacement was the AC compressor, I think, but something to do with the AC that went at 80k and cost $1300 to replace. It's had more stuff replaced than I expected, but not enough to make me want to ditch a car that I truly enjoy driving.
  • ToolGuy Let's review: I am a poor unsuccessful loser. Any car company which introduced an EV which I could afford would earn my contempt. Of course I would buy it, but I wouldn't respect them. 😉
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