Europe In November 2012: Race To The Bottom
Car sales accelerate their decline in Europe. The market for new cars was down fourteen months in a row in November, dropping by 10.3 percent compared with November 2011, says the European manufacturers association ACEA. From January to November, 11.25 million new cars changed hands in the EU, 7.6 percent less than in the same period a year ago. Sales in Europe have not been that bad since 1993.
Among the European volume markets, only the UK was up in November by 11.3. Sales were down 3.5% in Germany, 19.2% in France, 20.1% in Italy and 20.3% in Spain.
All major automakers were down in November with the exception of the BMW Group, which saw sales a 0.1 percent hair higher than in November 2011. The GM Group is down 13.2 percent in November, Ford is down 9.9 percent. Fiat is down 13 percent, PSA lost 15.6 percent, Renault is down a whopping 27.7 percent.
Volkswagen could increase its market share to nearly 25 percent for the year. GM is down to 8.2 percent, Ford to 7.6 percent.
Data can be downloaded here as PDF, and here as Excel spreadsheet.
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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Fiat Group is down 16% on the year, but it's Alfa Romeo that's really hurting, down over 30% for the year and 33.5% this month. I expect that this is a result of the end of the 159 production (the brand is now down to just the MiTo and Giulietta). The Giulia can't come soon enough, but based on Marchionne's plan, it'll be 2015 before it arrives. By then the Mito will be 7 years old and the Giulietta will be 5.
This poison will eventually spread to the US market. I see another Carpocalypse coming, especially when considering how pending higher US tax rates will likely increase unemployment and slow the US economy once again. Credit defaults will increase, and the housing and car markets will each slow.