European new car sales had their worst January in recorded history. The European manufacturers organization ACEA started recording in 1990, and it had never seen a January as bad. New car registrations were down 8.7 percent to 885,159 units in the EU.
TTAC readers were pre-warned. As reported earlier in the month, volume markets such as Germany (-8.6%), Spain (-9.6%), France (-15.1%) and Italy (-17.6%) were down by the double digits. Only the UK (+11.5%) posted growth.
Ford, down 25.5 percent, is hard hit. GM is down only 5.5 percent, with Chevrolet down a whopping 40.2 percent, Opel is up 4.5 percent. PSA, down 16.3 percent, continues its swirl down the drain. Renault is down a benign 5.6 percent, Fiat lost 12.3 percent. Volkswagen, down 5.2 percent, keeps gaining market share. (Volkswagen’s odd “others” number is mostly Porsche, which became a Volkswagen brand in August 2012.)
| New Car Sales EU January 2013 | |||||
| January | |||||
| %Share | Units | Units | % Chg | ||
| ’13 | ’12 | ’13 | ’12 | 13/12 | |
| ALL BRANDS** | 885,159 | 969,219 | -8.7 | ||
| VW Group | 24.4 | 23.5 | 215,861 | 227,728 | -5.2 |
| VOLKSWAGEN | 12.3 | 12.8 | 108,744 | 123,660 | -12.1 |
| AUDI | 5.4 | 5.1 | 48,115 | 49,033 | -1.9 |
| SEAT | 2.2 | 1.9 | 19,776 | 18,655 | +6.0 |
| SKODA | 4.0 | 3.7 | 35,753 | 36,182 | -1.2 |
| Others (1) | 0.4 | 0.0 | 3,473 | 198 | +1654.0 |
| PSA Group | 11.5 | 12.5 | 101,680 | 121,475 | -16.3 |
| PEUGEOT | 6.2 | 6.8 | 54,845 | 65,762 | -16.6 |
| CITROEN | 5.3 | 5.7 | 46,835 | 55,713 | -15.9 |
| RENAULT Group | 8.6 | 8.3 | 76,206 | 80,751 | -5.6 |
| RENAULT | 6.3 | 6.4 | 55,921 | 62,115 | -10.0 |
| DACIA | 2.3 | 1.9 | 20,285 | 18,636 | +8.8 |
| GM Group | 7.7 | 7.4 | 68,179 | 72,114 | -5.5 |
| OPEL/VAUXHALL | 6.6 | 5.8 | 58,637 | 56,130 | +4.5 |
| CHEVROLET | 1.1 | 1.6 | 9,521 | 15,930 | -40.2 |
| GM (US) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 21 | 54 | -61.1 |
| FORD | 6.8 | 8.3 | 60,036 | 80,635 | -25.5 |
| FIAT Group | 6.7 | 7.0 | 59,704 | 68,090 | -12.3 |
| FIAT | 5.2 | 5.0 | 46,094 | 48,014 | -4.0 |
| LANCIA/CHRYSLER | 0.7 | 0.9 | 6,120 | 8,929 | -31.5 |
| ALFA ROMEO | 0.6 | 0.9 | 5,412 | 8,616 | -37.2 |
| JEEP | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1,791 | 2,128 | -15.8 |
| Others (2) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 287 | 403 | -28.8 |
| BMW Group | 6.2 | 5.3 | 54,651 | 51,272 | +6.6 |
| BMW | 5.2 | 4.3 | 45,809 | 41,737 | +9.8 |
| MINI | 1.0 | 1.0 | 8,842 | 9,535 | -7.3 |
| DAIMLER | 5.6 | 4.9 | 49,224 | 47,469 | +3.7 |
| MERCEDES | 5.0 | 4.3 | 43,911 | 41,947 | +4.7 |
| SMART | 0.6 | 0.6 | 5,313 | 5,522 | -3.8 |
| TOYOTA Group | 4.3 | 4.7 | 37,715 | 45,337 | -16.8 |
| TOYOTA | 4.1 | 4.4 | 36,074 | 42,219 | -14.6 |
| LEXUS | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1,641 | 3,118 | -47.4 |
| NISSAN | 3.7 | 3.6 | 32,957 | 35,057 | -6.0 |
| HYUNDAI | 3.6 | 3.3 | 31,722 | 32,379 | -2.0 |
| KIA | 2.6 | 2.2 | 23,174 | 21,609 | +7.2 |
| VOLVO CAR CORP. | 1.7 | 1.9 | 15,253 | 18,559 | -17.8 |
| JAGUAR LAND ROVER Group | 1.3 | 1.0 | 11,477 | 9,641 | +19.0 |
| LAND ROVER | 1.1 | 0.8 | 9,446 | 7,970 | +18.5 |
| JAGUAR | 0.2 | 0.2 | 2,031 | 1,671 | +21.5 |
| SUZUKI | 1.2 | 1.3 | 10,299 | 12,695 | -18.9 |
| HONDA | 1.1 | 0.9 | 9,414 | 8,535 | +10.3 |
| MAZDA | 1.0 | 0.9 | 9,241 | 8,294 | +11.4 |
| MITSUBISHI | 0.5 | 0.7 | 4,518 | 7,214 | -37.4 |
| OTHER** | 1.6 | 2.1 | 13,848 | 20,365 | -32.0 |
Data can be downloaded as PDF and as Excel sheet.
Grim numbers. No idea how Honda is achieving that +10% gain – certainly here in the UK, their model range is weak.
-25% for Ford is also surprising. I thought the new Fiesta and Focus were supposed to be doing well.
Opel/Vauxhall was up?
Last yr they were fifth behind VW,Ford and Peugeot and Renault and now they barely trail Ford and of course VW?
And this is the Division killing GM?
Either England is buying an incredible number of cars,or the Euro car makers are in far,far worse shape than I for one thought,or ….
Looking at Auto News the new Mokka (aka the Buick Encore) is doing very well for Opel/Vauxhall.
Opel gaining sales (and market share) while others dropping was a surprise. Excluding Toyota from the text (unlike auto news) was not surprising.
Other Japanese companies like Honda and Mazda grew (in absolute numbers as well as market share). Why didn`t Toyota? They did worse (slightly) than the much maligned PSA group.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20130219/COPY01/302199864/ford-psa-and-toyota-hit-hard-as-europe-sales-slump-to-23-year-low#axzz2LMX3AbyK
We usually only mention volume brands in these articles. TTAC readers are not stupid. They usually prefer a list anyway.
The sharp decline in EU auto sales only goes to confirm what Paul Krugman and other economists have been saying that in the case of economies which are stagnant due to low consumer demand, public austerity fuels private austerity. You get into a negative feedback loop, and the economy goes down fast. The Europeans are showing the Americans what NOT to do in the case of government policy. If we don’t heed their lesson, shame on us.
Except, of course, for the inconvenient fact that this embrace of “austerity” by European countries is largely a myth.
Not in the UK. There has been sustained welfare cuts and other spending reductions.
Through 2012, the United Kingdom had only reduced the rate of spending growth. The rate of spending growth has fallen below the rate of inflation in the United Kingdom, but that is not the same thing as an actual cut in spending, and hardly constitutes a move towards “austerity.”
Italian government spending is down 3% from the peak, Spain is down 7% — and Ireland, Greece and Portugal are all down around 20%. Not a myth.
Italy cut spending in 2009-10, but increased it by a larger amount the following year. Spain’s reductions only brought its spending level to slightly below the 2009 level. (This reduction, incidentally, followed a massive increase in spending by the Spanish government from 2002 through 2009.)
Those are hardly draconian “cuts,” nor do they represent a real turn toward “austerity.”
France and Great Britain have not made any significant reductions in spending. At best, Great Britain has slowed the rate of spending growth.
The idea that Europe is in the throes of “austerity mania” is a myth.
Yes, the countries with a more or less balanced budget are truly struggling. Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia and Germany are taking a beating and the countries running a healty defecit are prospering…. Krugman is just rehashing Keynes.
Huh? Germany is down 8.6% … not so bad compared to France (15.1%) or Italy (17.6%).
Finland is down heavily because car taxation increased in April 2012 so early 2012 saw very strong sales. Little to do with deficits, much to do with taxes on cars.
@th009
I wasn’t talking about car sales. The countries with balanced budgets are doing much better as a whole then the countries that are running a deficit. The poster I replied to used these numbers as proof of the good things about Keynes (or the hack Krugman) ideas about economics, when in reality the fiscally responsible countries are doing much better on a broad range of indicators then the borrow and spend countries.
What’s going on with Ford for the 25% volume drop? Are they refusing to discount at the risk of losing market share (and having to idle plants)?
Audi down slightly (A3 intro?), BMW up almost 10%, Mercedes also up, so the top-three premium race looks much closer for 2013.
On the other hand, Alfa is down 37%, now selling at a 65K annual rate.
Thanks for the historical data going back to 2003.
Looks like there’s been a 7% YOY drop over the last 5 years. Sergio is right about overcapacity.
Moreover, this slump is sure to affect the US market soon.
Go Dacia !!!
What has been said over and over is coming true – only premium and low cost brands will have growth in Europe. Look at the table, BMW, Mercedes and JLR group are up, Dacia too. Honda and Mazda are up due to their very good reliability right now, what little is left of the middle class buyers is migrating to them from VW, Ford, etc.