Europe In April 2013: Up A Tad

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

As predicted by TTAC, European car sales were up slightly in April. Car sales in the EU rose by 1.7 percent in the month, Europe’s car manufacturer association ACEA says. We warned you before not to read too much into it, and we warn you again.

According to the ACEA, “the region counted on average two more working days compared to the same month last year, which would account for the increase.” Actually, what happened was that the Easter week fell into March this year, last year, it was in April. March and April, taken together, shows sales down 5 percent. In the first four months of the year, the EU new car market was down 7.1 percent. A week ago, we expected the market to be “down around 7 percent for the first four months of the year.”

April %ShareUnitsUnits% Chg’13’12’13’1213/12ALL BRANDS**1,038,3431,021,358+1.7VW Group26.524.5274,925250,102+9.9VOLKSWAGEN13.512.9140,010131,682+6.3AUDI6.25.863,93958,925+8.5SEAT2.61.927,12719,731+37.5SKODA3.83.939,45139,551-0.3Others0.40.04,398213+1964.8PSA Group11.212.7116,197129,272-10.1PEUGEOT6.26.863,88569,292-7.8CITROEN5.05.952,31259,980-12.8RENAULT Group8.98.692,63587,942+5.3RENAULT6.56.767,84968,613-1.1DACIA2.41.924,78619,329+28.2GM Group7.78.279,68683,483-4.5OPEL/VAUXHALL6.56.567,26466,037+1.9CHEVROLET1.21.712,40917,420-28.8GM (US)0.00.01326-50.0FORD7.37.575,83176,256-0.6FIAT Group6.47.266,64374,011-10.0FIAT5.05.351,44253,809-4.4LANCIA/CHRYSLER0.70.97,5299,266-18.7ALFA ROMEO0.50.85,6618,457-33.1JEEP0.20.21,5842,077-23.7Others (2)0.00.0427402+6.2BMW Group6.16.463,37365,833-3.7BMW5.05.251,55353,576-3.8MINI1.11.211,82012,257-3.6DAIMLER5.85.360,37754,525+10.7MERCEDES5.24.753,85947,774+12.7SMART0.60.76,5186,751-3.5TOYOTA Group3.93.840,61638,572+5.3TOYOTA3.83.639,20536,711+6.8LEXUS0.10.21,4111,861-24.2NISSAN2.92.830,26028,614+5.8HYUNDAI3.43.435,10634,350+2.2KIA2.82.729,49027,517+7.2VOLVO CAR CORP.1.71.817,55718,594-5.6JAGUAR LAND ROVER Group0.80.78,7107,486+16.4LAND ROVER0.70.67,0655,978+18.2JAGUAR0.20.11,6451,508+9.1HONDA1.00.910,0929,591+5.2SUZUKI1.11.211,63311,784-1.3MAZDA0.90.89,2578,441+9.7MITSUBISHI0.60.66,3885,646+13.1OTHER**0.90.99,5679,339+2.4

On a manufacturer basis, the Volkswagen Group (+9.9 percent in April) continues to outpace the market. So does Daimler (+ 10.7 percent.) Not all carmakers were able to profit from the favorable alignment of the calendars. PSA is down 10.1 percent, Fiat is down 10 percent, BMW lost 3.7 percent. GM Group is down 4.5 percent with a very strong drop for Chevrolet and a slight gain for Opel. Ford is down 0.6 percent.

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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  • Thelaine Thelaine on May 17, 2013

    Maybe if Mistusbishi combined their US and Euro operations, they could sell more cars than Tesla.

  • Spw Spw on May 17, 2013

    Mitsubishi Motors sold around 1 million cars worldwide in 2012... but ok, 20k per year for Tesla is awesome after a billion in US Gov aid. :-)

    • Thelaine Thelaine on May 17, 2013

      Lord forgive me spw if I accidentally implied a compliment to Tesla when I was really just trying to slam Mitsu USA, which I have turned into sort of a hobby. Musk has enough money without getting welfare transfer payments from me.

  • Dartdude The bottom line is that in the new America coming the elites don't want you and me to own cars. They are going to make building cars so expensive that the will only be for the very rich and connected. You will eat bugs and ride the bus and live in a 500sq-ft. apartment and like it. HUD wants to quit giving federal for any development for single family homes and don't be surprised that FHA aren't going to give loans for single family homes in the very near future.
  • Ravenuer The rear view of the Eldo coupe makes it look fat!
  • FreedMike This is before Cadillac styling went full scale nutty...and not particularly attractive, in my opinion.
  • JTiberius1701 Middle of April here in NE Ohio. And that can still be shaky. Also on my Fiesta ST, I use Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires for the winter and Bridgestone Potenza for my summer tires. No issues at all.
  • TCowner We've had a 64.5 Mustang in the family for the past 40 years. It is all original, Rangoon Red coupe with 289 (one of the first instead of the 260), Rally Pac, 4-speed, factory air, every option. Always gets smiles and thumbs ups.
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