#May2013

Hopes of a bottoming of the European have been frustrated, and the small April uptick turned out as a flash in the pan.

We warned in April not to read too much into car data, caused by a curious confluence of calendars. We predicted two weeks ago that the EU market will continue on its downward trajectory. And so it does.

The Chinese car market keeps plodding along. Total vehicle sales were 1,761,500 in May, up 9.81 percent. Passenger car sales were up 9.04 percent to 1,419,700 units. Commercial sales were up 12.88 percent to 364,600 units , the Chinese auto manufacturer association CAAM says.

GM’s sales in GM’s and the world’s largest auto market China were up 9.4 percent in May, the company says. In April, sales had been up 15.3 percent.

After Germany’s sudden 3.8 percent sales rise in April, this site did not buy into the sentiment that the worst is over in Europe. It’s not. After the calendar-induced April fool’s gold, the German market continued its downward run, with the rest of Europe sure to follow.

May sales were down in Japan, and this time around, small kei cars could not bail out their bigger brethren. Imports into the allegedly closed market Japan on the other hand are zooming, despite the weaker yen that makes imports more expensive.

Nissan, Ford and Chrysler led the way in April. GM and Toyota made smaller gains. Mitsubishi was this month’s loser, down 15 percent.

Chrysler sets the tone for a most likely very happy sales day, reporting an 11 percent increase in its May U.S. light vehicle sales to Reuters.

Expect May auto sales to come in 6 percent to 8 percent higher than in May 2012, and the SAAR to rise above 15 million. This according to Reuters, and “after a disappointing result in the prior month” – for some.