Europe In August 2012: Downturn Accelerates

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: September 18th, 2012

europe in august 2012 downturn accelerates

The European car market accelerates its race to the bottom. Back from a long vacation, the European car manufacturers association ACEA reports that the EU car market was down 8.9 percent in August, after having dropped 7.8 percent in July. Eight months into the year, European car sales are down 7.1 percent as Europeans registered 8,268,642 new cars so far.

New Car Sales EU, August 2012AugustAugust% ChgJan – AugJan – Aug% Chg’12’1112/11’12’1112/11AUSTRIA24,57025,884-5.1239,796242,784-1.2BELGIUM31,25637,788-17.3353,073399,119-11.5BULGARIA1,5191,644-7.612,90512,636+2.1CYPRUS743946-21.58,19010,023-18.3CZECH REPUBLIC13,19314,105-6.5118,584114,507+3.6DENMARK13,56412,507+8.5114,565113,381+1.0ESTONIA1,4231,312+8.511,8729,988+18.9FINLAND7,53510,024-24.880,91889,998-10.1FRANCE96,067108,462-11.41,293,9731,493,745-13.4GERMANY226,455237,561-4.72,108,7162,121,047-0.6GREECE3,8867,297-46.742,07272,513-42.0HUNGARY3,5393,428+3.235,79930,315+18.1IRELAND3,0983,238-4.374,15884,396-12.1ITALY56,44770,764-20.2981,0301,224,096-19.9LATVIA894856+4.47,2516,851+5.8LITHUANIA9571,064-10.18,2108,759-6.3LUXEMBURG2,8993,018-3.935,75036,143-1.1NETHERLANDS33,21139,062-15.0396,101409,500-3.3POLAND18,08819,597-7.7188,178181,408+3.7PORTUGAL5,4438,131-33.168,103114,259-40.4ROMANIA5,0448,747-42.344,39249,006-9.4SLOVAKIA5,9475,190+14.646,51544,956+3.5SLOVENIA3,0724,170-26.335,50441,855-15.2SPAIN48,82047,223+3.4520,216568,349-8.5SWEDEN21,06524,368-13.6181,774201,031-9.6UNITED KINGDOM59,43359,346+0.11,260,9971,220,618+3.3EUROPEAN UNION688,168755,732-8.98,268,6428,901,283-7.1

In August, the gap between north and south widened. The UK eked out a small 0.1 percent gain, Germany saw its sales contract by 4.7 percent, while France (-11.4 percent) and Italy (-20.2 percent) faced double-digit downturns. The Spanish market expanded by 3.4, which will turn out as a flash in the pan. Spain increased its VAT in September, which resulted in a small August rush on car dealerships. The revenge will come this month. In the first two weeks of September, car sales in Spain were down 28 percent.

New Car Sales EU, August 2012AugustJan-Aug %Share %ShareUnitsUnits% Chg% Chg’12’11’12’1112/11+0.0ALL BRANDS**688,168755,732-8.9-7.1VW Group28.225.3194,063191,530+1.3-0.1VOLKSWAGEN14.513.699,661102,841-3.1-2.4AUDI6.45.544,27141,526+6.6+5.2SEAT2.62.417,89218,271-2.1-16.2SKODA4.33.829,89028,790+3.8+0.8Others (1)0.30.02,349102+2202.9+2433.8PSA Group11.411.978,51290,233-13.0-13.5PEUGEOT6.56.444,52648,617-8.4-14.6CITROEN4.95.533,98641,616-18.3-12.2RENAULT Group8.89.260,43869,363-12.9-16.3RENAULT6.27.142,34653,765-21.2-19.8DACIA2.62.118,09215,598+16.0-1.3GM Group7.68.452,13563,453-17.8-11.9OPEL/VAUXHALL6.26.942,38752,239-18.9-15.4CHEVROLET1.41.59,73811,183-12.9+7.5GM (US)0.00.01031-67.7-35.2FORD6.07.741,53658,403-28.9-12.3FIAT Group5.35.936,42244,541-18.2-17.1FIAT4.04.327,23132,303-15.7-17.2LANCIA/CHRYSLER0.50.63,6344,884-25.6-4.2ALFA ROMEO0.60.73,8415,649-32.0-31.2JEEP0.20.21,4971,469+1.9+24.6Others (2)0.00.0219236-7.2-41.2BMW Group5.96.240,63447,000-13.5-3.1BMW4.95.133,91238,743-12.5-3.0MINI1.01.16,7228,257-18.6-3.8DAIMLER5.55.137,71138,214-1.3-2.7MERCEDES5.04.634,17634,416-0.7-1.4SMART0.50.53,5353,798-6.9-11.6TOYOTA Group4.34.229,55031,454-6.1-1.0TOYOTA4.13.928,30129,747-4.9-1.6LEXUS0.20.21,2491,707-26.8+12.5NISSAN3.23.021,74822,920-5.1-4.3HYUNDAI3.73.525,31726,085-2.9+10.1KIA3.02.420,30818,077+12.3+23.1VOLVO CAR CORP.1.31.49,09110,756-15.5-11.6SUZUKI1.41.39,4219,858-4.4-10.8HONDA1.10.97,9056,596+19.8-5.8MAZDA1.01.06,7497,537-10.5-10.9JAGUAR LAND ROVER Group0.60.33,8492,601+48.0+35.5LAND ROVER0.50.23,2561,883+73.0+44.6JAGUAR0.10.1593718-17.4+6.4MITSUBISHI0.60.94,3776,441-32.0-33.4OTHER**1.21.48,40210,670-21.3-18.0

On a manufacturer level, the Volkswagen Group holds its own with European sales up 1.3 percent in August and down only 0.1 percent for the first eight months. For the first time, the Volkswagen count also contains Porsche, in the “others” column together with Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini.

Sales of Ford were down drastically by 28.9 percent in August. GM is down 17.8 percent. The Fiat Group is down 18.2 percent. The two French makers slowed their descent in August.

#BertelSchmitt #EuropeInJuly2012 #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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2 of 3 comments

Oldyak on Sep 18, 2012

The Europeans need some good old sub prime lending like here in the U.S. to get the cars off the lots!

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Bd2 on Sep 18, 2012

What? No big blaring headline about how Ford Europe sales have seen the biggest drop in sales YTD out of the main players?

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Recent Comments

Alan My view is there are good vehicles from most manufacturers that are worth looking at second hand.I can tell you I don't recommend anything from the Chrysler/Jeep/Fiat/etc gene pool. Toyotas are overly expensive second hand for what they offer, but they seem to be reliable enough.I have a friend who swears by secondhand Subarus and so far he seems to not have had too many issue.As Lou stated many utes, pickups and real SUVs (4x4) seem quite good.
28-Cars-Later So is there some kind of undiagnosed disease where every rando thinks their POS is actually valuable?83K miles Ok.new valve cover gasket.Eh, it happens with age. spark plugsOkay, we probably had to be kewl and put in aftermarket iridium plugs, because EVO.new catalytic converterUh, yeah that's bad at 80Kish. Auto tranny failing. From the ad: the SST fails in one of the following ways:Clutch slip has turned into; multiple codes being thrown, shifting a gear or 2 in manual mode (2-3 or 2-4), and limp mode.Codes include: P2733 P2809 P183D P1871Ok that's really bad. So between this and the cat it suggests to me someone jacked up the car real good hooning it, because EVO, and since its not a Toyota it doesn't respond well to hard abuse over time.$20,000, what? Pesos? Zimbabwe Dollars?Try $2,000 USD pal. You're fracked dude, park it in da hood and leave the keys in it.BONUS: Comment in the ad: GLWS but I highly doubt you get any action on this car what so ever at that price with the SST on its way out. That trans can be $10k + to repair.
28-Cars-Later Actually Honda seems to have a brilliant mid to long term strategy which I can sum up in one word: tariffs.-BEV sales wane in the US, however they will sell in Europe (and sales will probably increase in Canada depending on how their government proceeds). -The EU Politburo and Canada concluded a trade treaty in 2017, and as of 2024 99% of all tariffs have been eliminated.-Trump in 2018 threatened a 25% tariff on European imported cars in the US and such rhetoric would likely come again should there be an actual election. -By building in Canada, product can still be sold in the US tariff free though USMCA/NAFTA II but it should allow Honda tariff free access to European markets.-However if the product were built in Marysville it could end up subject to tit-for-tat tariff depending on which junta is running the US in 2025. -Profitability on BEV has already been a variable to put it mildly, but to take on a 25% tariff to all of your product effectively shuts you out of that market.
Lou_BC Actuality a very reasonable question.
Lou_BC Peak rocket esthetic in those taillights (last photo)