#September2010

The European Car Manufacturers Association ACEA has released its September numbers for Europe. A quick look at the chart will tell the trained eye: Things are getting back to normal. Keep in mind, we are comparing with a totally abnormal 2009, when some countries injected amphetamines into their car sales to drive consumption to all time highs, and where other less fortunate countries saw their markets crash. Usually, it was the markets without indigenous car production that saw little sense in propping-up the economies of Germany, France, Italy and some other minor countries with car production – EU commonness notwithstanding. In September registrations of new cars decreased by 9.6 percent compared to the same month of last year. However, over the three first quarters of 2010, registrations were 4.3 percent lower compared to the same period of 2009. And that’s the not so interesting part of the story.

We knew that something was wrong with this month’s whisper number for Chinese car sales. If China’s largest carmaker, SAIC, improves by 23 percent , if Dongfeng is up 22.3 percent, then the total number will be somewhere in that neighborhood, and not “up by nearly 40 per cent over September 2009,” as it was rumored yesterday (no wonder we couldn’t find the official Xinhua release, it either had been withdrawn or it was never there.)

It’s that time again. The time that I report on the market that no-one cares about. The UK. The SMMT has released the car registration figures today and as predicted, they fell, but not as much as other markets. The UK saw new car sales fall by only 8.9 percent, compared to, say, Italy. Overall, the UK market still remains 7.8 percent higher than last year (to date). The Ford Fiesta remains the best selling model in the UK, which will do our balance of trade with Spain and Germany no favors. Diesel cars and alternatively fuelled cars all posted growth in September. What was also telling about this “growth” was this little nugget of information: Private demand fell, while fleet demand increased. That’s right, while private customers are fleeing, car makers are trying to sustain volume by following the fleets. Shall we take a look the breakdown?

With the aftereffects of the Abwrackprämie, that German cash for clunkers on steroids, slowly abating, Germany is slowly coming back to normal. In September, car sales were 17.8 percent below September 2009 (red line), but only 0.6 percent below September 2008 (blue line). For the first nine months, sales are 27.5 percent below prior year, but only 8.6 percent below the same period in 2008.

So, this weekend has been crowned “ Sexual exploitation” weekend? See what happens when you put a German in charge? If you can pull your eyes away from the scantily clad ladies, who have nothing between their ears, except for the photographer’s tongue, and look at a calendar, you’ll see that October is upon us. The beginning of a month. What could that mean? It’s the monthly sales figures! Which leads us to Toyota.

You’ve probably digested September’s sales figures. Now comes the paying the bill part. Quite literally. Edmunds (via Newswire) has broken out the incentive figures.Industry average for September 2010 stands at $2,576 (lower than August 2010, which stood at $2,701 for the month).

U.S. auto sales climbed 29 percent last month, the biggest gain of the year. (Nearly) everybody was a winner: All but two booked increases in September. Suzuki lost 12 percent (itai!), and the “others” brand lost 4 percent. Ford shot up 40 percent. Chrysler rocketed up by 61 percent. GM looked downright lame in comparison by growing only 11 percent. From Porsche (+ 25 percent) to Hyundai (+44 percent), from Daimler (+ 18 percent ) to Toyota (+17 percent), everybody reported huge gains. But why is nobody partying?