Car Sales In Europe: Fall In August

by Cammy Corrigan

Published: September 4th, 2010

As Germany tumbles, so does the rest of Europe (insert your own World War II or Euro currency joke here). As France, Italy and Spain withdrew their “bangers for cash” boondoggles, so did the public’s interest in new cars. The Wall Street Journal reports that in France new car sales dropped 9.8 percent compared to last year. However, according to the French car manufacturers’ association, if you factor out the extra working day in August, sales dropped by 14 percent.

In France, Peugeot-Citroen sales dropped 9.2 percent, which, while bad, is less than the overall market drop. Renault, their Gallic rivals, only dropped 3.8 percent. Why so little? Because Renault made up sales through their Dacia brand which shot up 22 percent. A sign of belt tightening in France as tastes are geared (manually geared, slushboxes are too expensive) towards emerging markets? Renault branded vehicles dropped 9.4 percent. Again below overall market contraction. However, like most European countries France are predicted to show double digit declines due to President Sarkozy pushing for big spending cuts, another impending global recession and changing French attitudes. But a market contraction of 9.8 percent is a walk in the park when we go south towards that pool of red, formerly called he Mediterranean.

Italian car sales dropped by 19.3 percent, to the lowest level in 17 years. Big government spending cuts, withdrawal of incentives and economic fears kept the Italians away from the showrooms. The Italian car market has been dropping for 5 consecutive months and shows no sign of stopping. An Italian think-tank said with typical Italian flair that “the Italian market is in a coma.” Well, if the Italian car market is in a coma, then the Spanish car market is flatlining. Their car sales dropped 24 percent. And not only do they have the same fears and budget concerns as other European countries, but they also have a rampant unemployment problem. At last count, it was at 20 percent, with under 25’s making up a huge chunk of that figure. Well, at least there’s one growth industry in Europe…

This is a preliminary picture. Complete report on European sales once the ACEA numbers come out by the middle of the month. Don’t expect the big picture to change a lot

#CammyCorrigan #Europe #SalesAugust2010

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Buickman on Sep 04, 2010

the international banksters who own the Central Banks create money out of thin air and loan it to spend happy governments who must eventually cut services and raise taxes to service the debt.

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Honda1 Unions were needed back in the early days, not needed know. There are plenty of rules and regulations and government agencies that keep companies in line. It's just a money grad and nothing more. Fain is a punk!
1995 SC If the necessary number of employees vote to unionize then yes, they should be unionized. That's how it works.
Sobhuza Trooper That Dave Thomas fella sounds like the kind of twit who is oh-so-quick to tell us how easy and fun the bus is for any and all of your personal transportation needs. The time to get to and from the bus stop is never a concern. The time waiting for the bus is never a concern. The time waiting for a connection (if there is one) is never a concern. The weather is never a concern. Whatever you might be carrying or intend to purchase is never a concern. Nope, Boo Cars! Yeah Buses! Buses rule!Needless to say, these twits don't actual take the damn bus.
MaintenanceCosts Nobody here seems to acknowledge that there are multiple use cases for cars.Some people spend all their time driving all over the country and need every mile and minute of time savings. ICE cars are better for them right now.Some people only drive locally and fly when they travel. For them, there's probably a range number that works, and they don't really need more. For the uses for which we use our EV, that would be around 150 miles. The other thing about a low range requirement is it can make 120V charging viable. If you don't drive more than an average of about 40 miles/day, you can probably get enough electrons through a wall outlet. We spent over two years charging our Bolt only through 120V, while our house was getting rebuilt, and never had an issue.Those are extremes. There are all sorts of use cases in between, which probably represent the majority of drivers. For some users, what's needed is more range. But I think for most users, what's needed is better charging. Retrofit apartment garages like Tim's with 240V outlets at every spot. Install more L3 chargers in supermarket parking lots and alongside gas stations. Make chargers that work like Tesla Superchargers as ubiquitous as gas stations, and EV charging will not be an issue for most users.
MaintenanceCosts I don't have an opinion on whether any one plant unionizing is the right answer, but the employees sure need to have the right to organize. Unions or the credible threat of unionization are the only thing, history has proven, that can keep employers honest. Without it, we've seen over and over, the employers have complete power over the workers and feel free to exploit the workers however they see fit. (And don't tell me "oh, the workers can just leave" - in an oligopolistic industry, working conditions quickly converge, and there's not another employer right around the corner.)