Europe In July 2012: Down, And Out Of The Country

Out of concern for reader sensitivities, TTAC increased the age limit of its bikini beauties

Every year around this time, the two automotive editors that do not vacation say: “Where are July’s European sales numbers? Weren’t they supposed to be here a week ago?”

No. They will be he here in September. ACEA, the trade group that tallies these things, is closed, and it tans its industry body at Europe’s and the world’s beaches. Only in Europe does the employee’s right to month long holidays stand in the way of timely data.

This is the time of year when the private research company JATO can shine. Into the void created by a vacationing European manufacturers association, Jato comes with the news that according to its tally, the European new car market declined by 8.2 percent in July. Of the Big Five European volume markets, only Great Britain recorded increased sales. Only Audi was able to recorded a July sales increase among the top ten brands. With numbers like these, no wonder people leave the country.

Sales by Market, July 2012CountryJul’12Jul’11YoYYTD’12YTD’11YoYAustria28,26829,307-3.5%215,227216,900-0.8%Belgium36,70134,8865.2%321,817361,331-10.9%Croatia2,6703,616-26.2%22,92826,849-14.6%Cyprus879923-4.8%6,6728,124-17.9%Czech Republic11,14012,118-8.1%105,373100,4025.0%Denmark16,70713,04628.1%100,902100,7690.1%Estonia1,7941,29139.0%12,1259,75424.3%Finland6,4438,604-25.1%73,30679,882-8.2%France148,924160,199-7.0%1,197,9171,385,283-13.5%Germany247,860260,907-5.0%1,882,2611,883,486-0.1%Great Britain143,884131,6349.3%1,201,5641,161,2723.5%Greece5,7439,936-42.2%38,06665,096-41.5%Hungary4,4773,73819.8%32,47227,05020.0%Iceland57444429.3%5,4283,50055.1%Ireland4,4314,0728.8%71,08881,172-12.4%Italy109,421139,548-21.6%1,074,5561,158,707-7.3%Latvia895913-2.0%6,3575,9956.0%Lithuania1,0511,072-2.0%7,2457,695-5.8%Luxembourg4,1954,529-7.4%32,85133,125-0.8%Norway12,13311,4176.3%82,39480,7942.0%Poland20,83023,008-9.5%169,501159,6776.2%Portugal*11,41114,275-20.1%64,852106,181-38.9%Romania6,0058,501-29.4%39,34840,257-2.3%Serbia1,8792,077-9.5%13,73218,932-27.5%Slovakia6,2525,58911.9%40,59039,8072.0%Slovenia4,1054,743-13.5%32,43237,685-13.9%Spain58,52779,147-26.1%460,729521,525-11.7%Sweden18,07419,621-7.9%160,707176,663-9.0%Switzerland23,92125,464-6.1%199,953183,6948.9%The Netherlands31,07742,089-26.2%363,046370,404-2.0%Total970,2711,056,714-8.2%8,035,4398,452,011-4.9%Top 10 Brands, July 2012MakeJul’12Jul’11YoYYTD’12YTD’11YoYVOLKSWAGEN133,465138,164-3.4%1,024,2041,026,748-0.2%FORD69,85182,177-15.0%633,863682,585-7.1%PEUGEOT62,84673,161-14.1%510,079595,406-14.3%OPEL/VAUXHALL62,35973,412-15.1%547,184626,054-12.6%RENAULT62,14877,575-19.9%534,563649,512-17.7%AUDI59,16154,1069.3%442,201414,7136.6%CITROEN53,59058,816-8.9%440,342497,560-11.5%FIAT46,23653,260-13.2%407,014452,264-10.0%MERCEDES45,52851,403-11.4%363,415353,7692.7%BMW43,22848,910-11.60%383,591386,632-0.8% Top 10 Models, July 2012Make & ModelJul’12Jul’11YoYYTD’12YTD’11YoYVOLKSWAGEN GOLF32,40338,903-16.7%278,470294,376-5.4%VOLKSWAGEN POLO23,51230,597-23.2%192,469220,962-12.9%FORD FIESTA21,90224,729-11.4%204,247221,301-7.7%OPEL/VAUXHALL ASTRA18,12422,584-19.7%153,342186,676-17.9%PEUGEOT 20817,9860–55,5980–OPEL/VAUXHALL CORSA17,73921,742-18.4%176,153193,939-9.2%NISSAN QASHQAI16,75017,881-6.3%134,166131,1842.3%FORD FOCUS16,71124,512-31.8%160,225175,394-8.6%RENAULT CLIO16,49021,552-23.5%150,413185,197-18.8%RENAULT MEGANE16,28718,976-14.2%130,219149,259-12.8%