New car registrations have continued to plummet on the continent while the UK market has maintained year-on-year growth each month for 12 straight months.
According to figures from Jato Dynamics, new registrations in Europe fell by 10.3% year-on-year in February to 832,998 units and by 9.5% in the year to date to 1,754,315 units.
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For those countries with a monthly market base in five figures, only Belgium, Norway and Poland saw growth in February, alongside the UK. Belgium was up by 3.9% to 45,400 registrations; Norway by 3.6% to 11,369; and Poland by 0.9% to 24,109.
All three nations were up year-to-date, joined by Portugal, which recorded 14,660 registrations across January and February, a year-on-year increase of 5.7%.
Three markets alongside the UK – France, Germany and Italy – recorded sales in six figures for the month, although all three were down year-on-year for both February and the year-to-date. New registrations fell by 13.5% year-on-year in France, year-to-date, to 268,053 units; by 9.6% in Germany to 392,773; and by 17.4% in Italy to 223,632.
Spain was the only other market to record 100,000-plus registrations in January and February combined, down 9.3% to 108,538 registrations.
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By GlobalDataVW and BMW expect sales rise
Volkswagen was the best-selling marque in February with 107,739 registrations, down 9.8%, and in January-plus-February with 221,835 registrations, down 10.9%.
Martin Winterkorn, chairman of the board of management at Volkswagen, speaking after the Group 2012 and January and February 2013 results, said he wanted the Group to "top the automotive industry by 2018" and expected 2013 global sales revenues to exceed those of 2012, with operating profit remaining stable.
None of the top 10 best-selling brands in Europe for the month recorded year-on-year growth, with BMW the only one to see growth in the year-to-date, up 4.7% to 87,761 registrations.
Following its full-year results, the BMW Group has predicted an increase in global sales this year, therefore setting an annual sales volume record, but has warned profits may be taken up by expenditure on new models, research and development and electro-mobility production.
Renault downbeat despite Clio success
Renault, which dropped from third overall in 2011 to fourth in 2012, during which new registrations in Europe fell by 22.1% to 816,993 units, bounced back to the second best-selling marque on the continent in February, thanks in particular to the latest model of the Clio.
The brand, which eliminated its overall debt in 2012, was second for the month with 58,725 registrations, despite dropping 14.8% year-on-year, and third for the year-to-date with 116,047 registrations, down 12.7%.
The Renault Clio, however, has been the success story of 2013 so far. Renault announced alongside its 2012 full-year results its intention to grow European market share with the Clio IV and RS variant, launched at the end of 2012. In summer 2012, Steve Gowler, managing director of Renault’s UK captive finance provider RCI Financial Services, also cited the Clio as part of the marque’s product rejuvenation.
The Renault Clio was the second best-selling model both in February with 22,318 registrations, up 17.5%, and year-to-date with 43,798 registrations, up 16.8%. By comparison, the best-selling VW Golf dropped 0.3% year-on-year for February to 32,663 units and 9.1% for the year-to-date to 63,318 registrations.
Despite this, Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive of Renault and Nissan, which had the fourth best-selling model in the Qashqai, said both brands should prepare for "three difficult years", especially in European retail, and added he was "not betting or planning on a quick recovery".
richard.brown@timetric.com
