Autumn Leaves In Europe: Sales Fall Like Mad

by Bertel Schmitt

December 16th, 2008 5:24 AM

autumn leaves in europe sales fall like mad

European car buyers show solidarity and join the worldwide buyers’ strike. November sales in the EU fell 26 percent to 932,500 units, Automobilwoche (sub) reports. That, people, makes the EU the world’s largest car market. And we aren’t even counting “light trucks” here. Western Europe sank 26 percent to 854,700 cars. For the year, Western Europe is down 8 percent. Biggest losers: Spain (-50 percent,) UK (-37 percent,) Italy (-30 percent.) Even the new EU countries, previously the only places where there was growth, are no longer immune. Except for Poland (+11 percent) und the Czech Republic (+2 percent,) sales are down everywhere. Rumania even imploded to the thumping tune of minus 53 percent. Car sales in the new EU countries are down 23 percent to 77.800 cars. Nobody is an island, even Central Europe ain’t.

As far as brands go, GM is the biggest percentage loser with -37.5 percent. They sold 76.383 units in November, their market share shrunk from 9.7% to 8,2%. Toyota lost a third of their sales, their market share is down to 4.7 percent from 5.2 percent. Ford gets a gold star. They lost only 19.6 percent and increased their market share from 9.5 percent to 10.3 percent. And it gets worse …

Luxury cars is definitely not the place to be. BMW lost 30.9 percent in sales, their market share is down to 5.4 percent from formerly 5.9 percent. Daimler is down 24.5 percent, their market share increased slightly from 5.7 to 5.8 percent. Volkswagen lost 17.4 percent with 213.196 units sold, but their market share in Europe rose to 22.9 percent from 20.5 in the month before.

Looking to the US, Europe can find solace in the fact that they are the biggest auto market in the world (if the statisticians would only start seeing it the same way.) Their drop in sales is much less than in the US. And if you drop a little less hard than the other guys, your share of the dwindling market rises. If you have a way with presenting your statistics, it doesn’t all have to be bad.

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Andrichrose on Dec 16, 2008

When I first went to live in Spain in the early 1990s very few people had new cars , most of the cars on the road were from the seventies or before , towards the end of the 90s it all changed to the point where to see a car more than 10 years old is rare . Most cars were bought on credit over 5 or so years , and the salaries being much lower than say the UK or Germany eliminates the ability to upgrade . So when things get a little strained, as of late , demand falls dramatically , and I am surprised it is only 50% , I think next year will be much worse in this market ! Here in Northern Italy it does seem to be a little better , however it does seem that the only strength in the market is in small cars , the Fiat 500 is very popular along with the new Alfa Romeo Mito . The air is very polluted here living as we do close to the southern side of the Alps , and I think people are starting to get the message that large cars are a unsustainable choice, that and the fact that our gas price was hovering around the $10 a gallon mark in the summer !

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TaxedAndConfused on Dec 17, 2008

@Bertel Schmitt Company cars are big business. They are taxed in the UK as additional pay and not "optimised" Look at my user name and ask how I know ;-)

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