Europe In October 2010: Hangover

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: November 16th, 2010

New car registrations in the 27 countries of the EU crashed by 16.6 percent to 1,027,036 units in October. That according to the latest statistics of the European manufacturer organization ACEA. The year looks a bit better: In the first 10 months, demand for new cars has decreased by 5.5 percent, totaling 11,279,542 new vehicles registered.

Europe is in the throes of a big cash for clunker induced hangover. It will take a lot of Aspirin, and into 2011 to get over it. Even compared with October 2008, the market in the EU27 is down 9.4 percent. Compared with the first ten months of 2008, sales are down 12 percent.

Any way you look at it: It’s down.

Double digit contractions are being reported from all major markets in Europe, ranging from -18.5 percent in France, to -20.0 percent in Germany, -22.2 percent in the UK, -28.8 percent in Italy and -37.6 percent in Spain.

Two markets registered triple digit gains: Ireland’s new car sales rose 114.6 percent (from 1,530 last year to 3,284 this time around.) Estonia’s car market exploded by 121.2 percent. They sold 993 cars this October, compared to 449 in October last year.

If you look at the data ( here in PDF and here as Excel,) you will see the markets that didn’t receive steroid injections last year slowly recover. You also see the drug recipients exhibiting serious withdrawal symptoms.

On the manufacturer front, not much to report. VW remains the emperor of Europe with a more or less unchanged market share of 21.3 percent for the year. Next is PSA, up half a percent to 13.5 percent. Renault keeps gaining market share, up to 10.3 from 9.1 in the first ten months. GM is holding its own (8.6 percent compared to 9.1, but Saab is gone). Fiat loses a good percent of share to 7.8. And so on. The field hasn’t changed dramatically. If you look at all the Octobers for the last years, matters appear less dramatic than they may sound.

What has changed is not on the list: The makers with heavy exports to China, notably the Germans, are doing much better than the numbers make you believe.

#BertelSchmitt #Europe #NewVehicleSales #October2010 #Sales

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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El scotto UH, more parking and a building that was designed for CAT 5 cable at the new place?
Ajla Maybe drag radials? 🤔
FreedMike Apparently this car, which doesn't comply to U.S. regs, is in Nogales, Mexico. What could possibly go wrong with this transaction?
El scotto Under NAFTA II or the USMCA basically the US and Canada do all the designing, planning, and high tech work and high skilled work. Mexico does all the medium-skilled work.Your favorite vehicle that has an Assembled in Mexico label may actually cross the border several times. High tech stuff is installed in the US, medium tech stuff gets done in Mexico, then the vehicle goes back across the border for more high tech stuff the back to Mexico for some nuts n bolts stuff.All of the vehicle manufacturers pass parts and vehicles between factories and countries. It's thought out, it's planned, it's coordinated and they all do it.Northern Mexico consists of a few big towns controlled by a few families. Those families already have deals with Texan and American companies that can truck their products back and forth over the border. The Chinese are the last to show up at the party. They're getting the worst land, the worst factories, and the worst employees. All the good stuff and people have been taken care of in the above paragraph.Lastly, the Chinese will have to make their parts in Mexico or the US or Canada. If not, they have to pay tariffs. High tariffs. It's all for one and one for all under the USMCA.Now evil El Scotto is thinking of the fusion of Chinese and Mexican cuisine and some darn good beer.
FreedMike I care SO deeply!