Europe Finally Turning Around? German Registrations Up 7%, Sales Also Rise in France, Spain, Italy

TTAC Staff
by TTAC Staff

The European automobile market may be pulling out of its six year sales slump, according to Automotive News, with new car registrations in Germany up 7% in January from last year, joined by France, Italy and Spain reporting year to year increases for the month. German new car sales for the month were 206,000, the third monthly gain out of the past four months and the best monthly percentage improvement since September 2011. Analysts caution, though, that the growth in the German market was in part due to discounting.

However, industry executives and analysts warned that underlying demand may not be robust as Germany’s growth was in part attributable to generous price discounts. Ernst-Robert Nouvertne, who operates two Volkswagen stores near Cologne, said “Incentives are the name of the game. Headline sales are looking good but profit per car is crumbling. The (German) market is still pretty strained.”

For their part, the VDA trade association said that sales could have been even better but January 2014 had one less sales day than the same month in 2013. “It’s pleasant to see that the stabilization of the German market is continuing at the start of 2014 but we should remain only cautiously optimistic,” Matthias Wissmann, VDA president said. Wissmann noted that January’s increase was boosted by relatively poor sales last year. The VDA said that it expects new car registrations in Germany to rise to about 3 million vehicles this year from 2.95 million in 2013.

French new car sales were up slightly, 0.5% to 125,477 in January. The CCFA industry association forecast stable or slightly higher car sales in France this year.

Sales of new cars and light trucks in Italy were up 3% to 117,802, according to the government’s transport ministry. Industry groups, however, urged caution, attributing part of the increase to pent up demand as car owners finally replace older vehicles after putting off new car purchases while the financial crisis was ongoing. Automotive research group Centro Studi Promotor said in a statement, “In absolute terms, sales of passenger cars [in Italy] remain at levels last seen in the late 1970s.”

Sales of new cars were also up in Spain, +7.6% last month to 53,436 vehicles. Auto manufacturers’ association Anfac said that sales were improved by government subsidies to encourage scrapping old cars.

TTAC Staff
TTAC Staff

More by TTAC Staff

Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 17 comments
  • JD321 JD321 on Feb 06, 2014

    It's why I left Europe...I'm a producer...Not a socialist parasite. Europeans are such awful little people...I am no longer their milkcow.

    • Passopp Passopp on Feb 06, 2014

      I feel sorry for your European manufacturer experience. Kudos to you for adapting to the local views on social care in your new home country so quickly though. You might want to share that experience with FOX News, just to keep the massed educated. ;)

  • JD321 JD321 on Feb 08, 2014

    It's just not a discussion until some bratty liberal parasite states "FOX News" as if that means something. It's almost like you don't know how to think for yourself. The island monkeys still worship a violent/parasitic "Royal Family"...How primitive a society and why would any fully human individual want to live there? Growing up under soviet socialism tends to make you grow up and become a self-owning man. Social Care? Is that what you think it is? Parasitic government-worshiping monkeys don't ever deserve it.

    • Dolorean Dolorean on Feb 08, 2014

      JD, please adjust the volume and voluminous plethora of right-wing rage theory and plain ol' xenophobic hypebolic incorrectness along with the fit of your tin-foil hat. Your prejudice and ignorance is showing.

  • Carson D At 1:24 AM, the voyage data recorder (VDR) stopped recording the vessel’s system data, but it was able to continue taping audio. At 1:26 AM, the VDR resumed recording vessel system data. Three minutes later, the Dali collided with the bridge. Nothing suspicious at all. Let's go get some booster shots!
  • Darren Mertz Where's the heater control? Where's the Radio control? Where the bloody speedometer?? In a menu I suppose. How safe is that??? Volvo....
  • Lorenzo Are they calling it a K4? That's a mountain in the Himalayas! Stick with names!
  • MaintenanceCosts It's going to have to go downmarket a bit not to step on the Land Cruiser's toes.
  • Lorenzo Since EVs don't come in for oil changes, their owners don't have their tires rotated regularly, something the dealers would have done. That's the biggest reason they need to buy a new set of tires sooner, not that EVs wear out tires appreciably faster.
Next