The European car market – if taken together, the world’s second largest behind China and before the U.S. – continues its slow drift to the bottom. Sales in May were down by 8.7 percent in the EU. This is the eighth month in a row that sales are in minus territory. Five months into the year, the market is down 7.7 percent.
18 out of 26 EU countries are down, now including all volume markets except the U.K. Greece leads the list of laggards with sales down 47.3 percent. However, the crisis is no longer a southern affair. Second worst country in terms of sales is Finland.
| May | |||||
| %Share | Units | Units | % Chg | ||
| ’12 | ’11 | ’12 | ’11 | 12/11 | |
| ALL BRANDS** | 1,106,845 | 1,211,665 | -8.7 | ||
| VW Group | 24.6 | 23.8 | 272,157 | 288,701 | -5.7 |
| VOLKSWAGEN | 12.9 | 12.8 | 142,628 | 154,768 | -7.8 |
| AUDI | 5.7 | 5.1 | 63,395 | 61,623 | +2.9 |
| SEAT | 2.1 | 2.2 | 23,072 | 27,039 | -14.7 |
| SKODA | 3.9 | 3.7 | 42,795 | 45,053 | -5.0 |
| Others (1) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 267 | 218 | +22.5 |
| PSA Group | 12.0 | 13.6 | 132,561 | 164,677 | -19.5 |
| PEUGEOT | 6.5 | 7.3 | 72,114 | 88,101 | -18.1 |
| CITROEN | 5.5 | 6.3 | 60,447 | 76,576 | -21.1 |
| RENAULT Group | 8.6 | 9.0 | 94,814 | 109,105 | -13.1 |
| RENAULT | 6.6 | 7.3 | 73,366 | 88,099 | -16.7 |
| DACIA | 1.9 | 1.7 | 21,448 | 21,006 | +2.1 |
| GM Group | 8.9 | 8.9 | 98,873 | 107,885 | -8.4 |
| OPEL/VAUXHALL | 7.4 | 7.7 | 81,489 | 92,887 | -12.3 |
| CHEVROLET | 1.6 | 1.2 | 17,371 | 14,954 | +16.2 |
| GM (US) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 13 | 44 | -70.5 |
| FORD | 7.6 | 8.0 | 84,393 | 96,756 | -12.8 |
| FIAT Group | 7.3 | 7.6 | 80,589 | 92,166 | -12.6 |
| FIAT | 5.4 | 5.6 | 59,439 | 67,549 | -12.0 |
| LANCIA/CHRYSLER | 0.9 | 0.8 | 9,645 | 9,605 | +0.4 |
| ALFA ROMEO | 0.8 | 1.0 | 8,779 | 12,490 | -29.7 |
| JEEP | 0.2 | 0.2 | 2,357 | 1,897 | +24.2 |
| Others (2) | 0.0 | 0.1 | 369 | 625 | -41.0 |
| BMW Group | 6.4 | 6.2 | 70,504 | 74,951 | -5.9 |
| BMW | 5.1 | 4.9 | 56,883 | 59,044 | -3.7 |
| MINI | 1.2 | 1.3 | 13,621 | 15,907 | -14.4 |
| DAIMLER | 5.2 | 5.1 | 57,977 | 61,734 | -6.1 |
| MERCEDES | 4.6 | 4.4 | 51,103 | 53,843 | -5.1 |
| SMART | 0.6 | 0.7 | 6,874 | 7,891 | -12.9 |
| TOYOTA Group | 3.9 | 3.2 | 43,333 | 38,506 | +12.5 |
| TOYOTA | 3.7 | 3.0 | 41,300 | 36,624 | +12.8 |
| LEXUS | 0.2 | 0.2 | 2,033 | 1,882 | +8.0 |
| NISSAN | 2.9 | 3.2 | 31,979 | 38,429 | -16.8 |
| HYUNDAI | 3.1 | 2.7 | 34,448 | 32,583 | +5.7 |
| KIA | 2.8 | 1.9 | 30,556 | 23,527 | +29.9 |
| VOLVO CAR CORP. | 1.7 | 1.8 | 18,384 | 21,801 | -15.7 |
| SUZUKI | 1.2 | 1.1 | 13,192 | 13,861 | -4.8 |
| HONDA | 1.0 | 0.8 | 10,758 | 9,546 | +12.7 |
| JAGUAR LAND ROVER Group | 0.8 | 0.6 | 9,402 | 6,991 | +34.5 |
| LAND ROVER | 0.7 | 0.4 | 7,512 | 5,188 | +44.8 |
| JAGUAR | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1,890 | 1,803 | +4.8 |
| MAZDA | 0.7 | 0.8 | 7,983 | 9,956 | -19.8 |
| MITSUBISHI | 0.6 | 0.8 | 6,409 | 9,574 | -33.1 |
| OTHER** | 0.8 | 0.9 | 8,532 | 10,916 | -21.8 |
Manufacturer-wise, all large European manufacturers are down, led by PSA (-19.5 percent), Renault ( – 13.1 percent), Ford (-12.8 percent) and Fiat (-12.6 percent).
The GM Group is down 8.4 percent. Losses at Opel (-12.3 percent) are offset by a 16.2 percent gain at Chevrolet.
In May, a total of 13 GM cars are listed as imported from the U.S. Following Detroit logic, which postulates that a market must be closed if American cars don’t sell , complaints at the WTO should be imminent.
As predicted yesterday, Volkswagen’s sales are down in Europe. They are down 5.7 percent in May, they are down 2.4 percent January through May. Volkswagen’s data department lists sales as unchanged in May, and up by 1.3 percent January through May. Must be a different Europe.
Data are available here as PDF and here as Excel file.
Fiat market share is down from 7.6% to 7.3% — and Marchionne just announced yet another reduction in investment, and a delay in the launch of the next Punto, Fiat’s best-selling model.
VW’s sales are down, but the new Golf is also less than six months away.
In the text below the chart, you’re missing a period in the GM group’s percentage loss… its -8.4%, not -84% Also, their market share stayed the same, so it looks like they just contracted with the whole market, and the gains at Chevy completely offset the losses at Opel
I know you guys hate GM, but that’s just blatant! (joking)
Toyota and JLR seem to be doing well. Imagine how well JLR would be doing in a healthy market,,,,,
The Greek elections (re-elctions) are this weekend….
Depending on what or whom you believe on the different doomsday scenarios, a 7.3% drop in sales will be considered wonderful news in the near future.
To many of the people actually living in Europe those doomsday scenarios may be all too real. I have cousins in their fifties and sixties in Portugal, Germany and England and new car sales are not even on their to-do list.
None of them have any plans to buy a new car, or even replace the old ones they have now, regardless of the outcome of the Greek elections.
Until the whole of Europe is once again set on the path of the straight and narrow, they will be experiencing even more uncertainty than we currently are experiencing in America.
Who cares about buying a new car if you’re worried about your housing and food affordability in the future?
Other than JLR the biggest winners seem to be Korean: Hyundai, Kia and Chevrolet.