Demand for new cars in the EU decreased by 3.5 percent in November, amounting to 1,030,414 units. Eleven months into the year, registrations stand at 12,157,119, that is 1.4 percent less than in the same period in 2010. Basically, the European market remains flat with a slight downward bias. This according to data released by the European manufacturers’ association ACEA.
The picture would look worse, would it not be for Germany. Germany was the only volume market to post growth (+2.6 percent). Downturn ranged from -4.2 percent in the UK to -6.4 percent in Spain, -7.7 percent in France and -9.2 percent in Italy.
From January to November, the German market expanded by 9.1 percent. In France (-0.3 percent), the UK (-4.5 percent), Italy (-10.6 percent) and Spain (-18.8 percent) , results were all negative.
New Passenger Car Registrations EU
| January – November | |||||
| %Share | Units | Units | % Chg | ||
| ’11 | ’10 | ’11 | ’10 | 11/10 | |
| ALL BRANDS | 12,157,119 | 12,324,863 | -1.4 | ||
| VW Group | 23.2 | 21.3 | 2,824,307 | 2,630,633 | +7.4 |
| VOLKSWAGEN | 12.4 | 11.3 | 1,503,322 | 1,387,349 | +8.4 |
| AUDI | 5.0 | 4.5 | 608,585 | 555,736 | +9.5 |
| SEAT | 2.3 | 2.2 | 275,439 | 273,592 | +0.7 |
| SKODA | 3.6 | 3.3 | 435,111 | 412,230 | +5.6 |
| Others (1) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1,850 | 1,726 | +7.2 |
| PSA Group | 12.6 | 13.5 | 1,533,274 | 1,669,327 | -8.2 |
| PEUGEOT | 6.8 | 7.4 | 830,322 | 907,337 | -8.5 |
| CITROEN | 5.8 | 6.2 | 702,952 | 761,990 | -7.7 |
| RENAULT Group | 9.7 | 10.4 | 1,180,471 | 1,281,361 | -7.9 |
| RENAULT | 7.8 | 8.5 | 952,632 | 1,042,550 | -8.6 |
| DACIA | 1.9 | 1.9 | 227,839 | 238,811 | -4.6 |
| GM Group | 8.7 | 8.6 | 1,054,718 | 1,062,478 | -0.7 |
| OPEL/VAUXHALL | 7.4 | 7.3 | 897,416 | 900,901 | -0.4 |
| CHEVROLET | 1.3 | 1.3 | 156,851 | 160,578 | -2.3 |
| GM (US) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 451 | 999 | -54.9 |
| FORD | 8.0 | 8.2 | 974,822 | 1,011,956 | -3.7 |
| FIAT Group | 7.1 | 8.0 | 868,620 | 985,456 | -11.9 |
| FIAT | 5.2 | 6.2 | 628,560 | 759,143 | -17.2 |
| LANCIA/CHRYSLER | 0.8 | 0.8 | 94,866 | 101,157 | -6.2 |
| ALFA ROMEO | 1.0 | 0.8 | 118,122 | 96,795 | +22.0 |
| JEEP | 0.2 | 0.1 | 20,253 | 12,320 | +64.4 |
| Others (2) | 0.1 | 0.1 | 6,819 | 16,041 | -57.5 |
| BMW Group | 5.9 | 5.4 | 718,051 | 661,082 | +8.6 |
| BMW | 4.7 | 4.4 | 568,985 | 539,055 | +5.6 |
| MINI | 1.2 | 1.0 | 149,066 | 122,027 | +22.2 |
| DAIMLER | 5.0 | 4.9 | 601,825 | 604,574 | -0.5 |
| MERCEDES | 4.4 | 4.3 | 529,328 | 529,234 | +0.0 |
| SMART | 0.6 | 0.6 | 72,497 | 75,340 | -3.8 |
| TOYOTA Group | 3.9 | 4.2 | 477,225 | 519,259 | -8.1 |
| TOYOTA | 3.7 | 4.1 | 454,001 | 503,659 | -9.9 |
| LEXUS | 0.2 | 0.1 | 23,224 | 15,600 | +48.9 |
| NISSAN | 3.4 | 2.9 | 412,758 | 360,762 | +14.4 |
| HYUNDAI | 2.9 | 2.6 | 351,579 | 318,978 | +10.2 |
| KIA | 2.2 | 1.9 | 264,689 | 237,128 | +11.6 |
| VOLVO CAR CORP. | 1.8 | 1.6 | 217,669 | 191,848 | +13.5 |
| SUZUKI | 1.3 | 1.4 | 153,892 | 171,196 | -10.1 |
| HONDA | 1.1 | 1.3 | 132,093 | 163,984 | -19.4 |
| MAZDA | 1.0 | 1.3 | 121,385 | 161,483 | -24.8 |
| MITSUBISHI | 0.8 | 0.7 | 95,049 | 88,661 | +7.2 |
| JAGUAR LAND ROVER Group | 0.7 | 0.7 | 86,947 | 85,582 | +1.6 |
| LAND ROVER | 0.5 | 0.5 | 66,027 | 60,954 | +8.3 |
| JAGUAR | 0.2 | 0.2 | 20,920 | 24,628 | -15.1 |
| OTHER** | 0.7 | 1.0 | 87,744 | 119,116 | -26.3 |
All data can be retrieved here as PDF, and here as Excel file.
I wonder what excuses Japan Inc tells their overlords as to why they can’t sell cars in Europe. Is it because they build junk? Is it because Europeans don’t want to buy Japanese made cars? Is it because Japan doesn’t build any cars the Euros like? Are European roads too small for Japanese cars?
Or could it be that Japan Inc was too busy assaulting North America for the past 30 years to be bothered with the European market, until it became more homogenous with the Eurozone, by which time it was too late?
I too wonders why even Toyota can’t seem to build car that appeals to the European. I mean, they succeeded spectacularly in appealing to US buyers. Toyota Camry isn’t no. 1 just because of Toyota’s reputation for reliability, but it also delivers everything its buyers want in a car. Similarly in other market, Indonesia for example, the Toyota Avanza delivers what Indonesians wants in a car, so it’s no. 1, the new models have a waiting list of months. Reading an European review of the new Avensis, however, indicates that Toyota hasn’t quite figure out European buyers just yet. I don’t know how much of that is because of strong bias toward European makes, or are the cars simply doesn’t meet their expectation.
There is some bias towards European makes but Hyundai and Kia both grew whilst GM stayed static (pretty good as most makes lost market share). At the same time Honda and Toyota lost volume. Some will be due to the natural disasters. However Hyundai and Kia show that it is possible to sell cars since they outsell Honda and Toyota/Lexus combined and have been selling for a much shorter time in the EU than the Japanese have.
wow Honda took a dump. When Kia outsells you 2 to 1 and Suzuki too, you have issues. Hyundai outsells them 3 to 1 and Nissan 4 to 1!! Wonder if they will pull the plug on EU operations soon?
Can someone explain GM’s EU numbers. Is GM’s definition of EU different from this list. Cause in their press release they mention GME sold 1,319,000 cars for Jan to Sep period, 85000 more than last year.
Page 6 : http://media.gm.com/content/dam/Media/gmcom/investor/2011/Q3-2011-Highlights.pdf
However, in this list it says they sold 1,054,000 for Jan to Nov. (two additional months). Maybe GM’s EU unit includes sales for Russia, etc? but this list does not?
Honda use at least one of their European models (the Accord) as an Acura. So if they cut their EU operations (I don`t know if they are profitable or not since volume isn`t everything) then Acura would have an issue with the TSX going away.
Well, the word is that Honda may be cutting the TSX to realign its Acura lineup with the Civc-based ILX probably being the replacement for the TSX, but Honda still needs the Euro Accord to be its Avensis, Mondeo, i40, etc. competitor.
And things will only get tougher for Toyota and Nissan in Europe as the Picanto, Rio, i30 and i40 are all new and Kia just began selling the Optima with the new Cee’d on the way.
Its amazing tho, what Nissan has been able to do in Europe with the Qashqai.
In putting their resource behind breaking the US market, the Japanese forgot to develop diesels properly. With our high fuel prices, and tax structures based around co2 emissions, diesel is the best financial option for most. Small LPT petrol units are catching up, but the Japanese don’t do them either.
So, if their cars don’t make a financial case, do they otherwise have the design, utility, or perceived quality to compete in other ways? Generally speaking, they do not. And clearly the Euro market puts less of a premium on reliability, how else do you explain over a million Renaults?
The Camry is not even sold in the UK anymore, they gave up on that a decade ago. The Euro-specific Avensis is a 90% facsimile of an average Euro mid-sized car, so there’s no reason to buy one in light of the arguments above. Honda, for their part, seem hell bent on producing ever more underwhelming versions of the Civic, Accord, and CRV, Mazda was always a bit-part player.
We’re also pretty snobby about brands over here, so add that to the reasons. Merc C Class and BMW in UK top 10 sellers, for example.
Look to Toyota to begin putting BMW-sourced diesels into Lexus lineup in Europe per their agreement.
The Camry was never sold in the UK, it was the Carina and then the Carina E – neither of which looked like a US Camry.
Reliability is important in the European market, but it is not the bee all and end all. People wouldn`t spend money (proportionately more since prices are higher in the EU than the US) on cars that broke down all the time. They will choose a brand if say the reliability (in true delta terms) is 50 faults per 100 cars per year vs say 20 faults per 100 cars per years. That equates to 1.5 extra visits in a 5 year period. Depending on the fault (i.e. does it actually need an extra visit or can it been done at the scheduled service) then it might be no big deal for most.
The Camry was sold here until 2001 when the XV20 ended. I say sold, maybe more accurate to say it was ‘available’. It was the same as the US models, the Carina E etc were smaller.
On the Quashqai, that’s been an unusual success because it’s designed & built in Europe, right-sized, and available with Euro-friendly engines such as the 1.5 diesel. It was also something of a novelty when new, we didn’t really have any Golf-sized crossovers until then.
Stephen – I apologize, I just looked it up and it does seem that some Camry’s were sold in the UK in the 1990’s. I don`t recall ever seeing one though! The Carina/Carina E and now the Avensis were the midsized (US wise) cars which competed against the Mondeo/Sierra