Following a tough year for the European car
market, sales continued to fall in November last year, compared to
November 2009, with UK sales dropping 11.5%. There are, however,
increased sales in Europe’s peripheral markets, reports Charles
Wheeldon.
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Car sales in Europe’s ‘Big Five’ markets (the UK,
Germany, Spain, France and Italy) all fell in November, compared to
November 2009, with UK sales falling by 11.5%. Germany experienced
the smallest drop in monthly sales compared to November 2009, down
only 6.2%, compared to Spain’s 25.5% drop.
Sales in Central and Eastern
Europe continued to grow strongly in November compared to November
2009. Lithuania’s sales were up 70%, with Estonia and Slovakia up
42.5% and 35.5% respectively.
November sales for six of the
‘top 10’ brands in Europe fell compared to November 2009. German
premium brands continue to perform well, with BMW, Mercedes and
Audi up 17.9%, 5.6%, and 3.1% respectively.
Volkswagen was Europe’s
best-selling monthly brand in November, helped by sales of its new
Polo, which grew 11% compared to November 2009.
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By GlobalDataBMW’s 17.9% sales increase
was also the biggest among the ‘top 10’ European brands. Fiat’s
sales performance was the worst, down by 27.7%.
Volkswagen remains Europe’s
best-selling brand, with 117,852 November unit sales. Toyota
continues to miss out on a place in the ‘top 10’ selling brands due
to strong Audi sales.
Opel/Vauxhall improved its
sales performance, with sales growth of 3.8% for November compared
to November 2009, after a 19.9% drop in October, compared to
October 2009.
There were strong sales of
larger models, especially crossovers and 4x4s.
Monthly sales of Volkswagen
Tiguans and Land Rover Freelanders increased by 9.8% and 9.3%
respectively compared to November 2009, while Toyota Land Cruiser
and Mitsubishi Outlander sales were up by 38.3% and 43.1%
respectively.
The Volkswagen Polo,
Opel/Vauxhall Astra and the Citroën C3 were the only three models
in the ‘top 10’ to increase sales in November, up 11%, 12.6% and
9.7% respectively, compared to November 2009.
Strong sales of new vehicles,
such as the BMW 5 Series and Opel/Vauxhall Meriva, which grew
115.5% and 71.9% respectively, demonstrate the importance of
investment in new models.
Year-to-date
sales
New European car sales were
down 4.8% for the year-to-date compared to the year-to-date 2009,
but the UK and Spain increased year-to-date sales by 3.4% and 5.9%
respectively.
However, Germany’s
year-to-date sales are down 25.2%, the worst%age drop among the
‘Big Five’. Despite this, 20 of the 27 markets surveyed showed
increased year-to-date sales compared to 2009, probably because
most countries’ scrappage schemes ended in Q1 2010.
David Di Girolamo, head of
JATO Consult, said: “It has certainly been a very tough year for
the industry and, while sales continue to fall in some markets,
there is an emerging optimism about the coming 12
months.
“There are some positive
signs, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, where the market
is expanding.
“However we should remain cautious of how we interpret
these figures, as many markets had temporarily high growth rates at
the start of this year as scrappage schemes came to an
end.”
|
European car sales by |
||||||
|
Make |
Nov 10 |
Nov 09 |
% change Nov |
Year to date |
Year to date |
% change year to |
|
Volkswagen |
117,852 |
135,496 |
-13 |
1,427,160 |
1,523,687 |
-6.3 |
|
Renault |
91,881 |
107,160 |
-14.3 |
1,053,329 |
998,810 |
5.5 |
|
Ford |
85,750 |
100,861 |
-15 |
1,047,131 |
1,192,527 |
-12.2 |
|
Opel/Vauxhall |
80,559 |
77,617 |
3.8 |
911,735 |
986,040 |
-7.5 |
|
Peugeot |
80,100 |
83,688 |
-4.3 |
926,023 |
910,308 |
1.7 |
|
Citroën |
64,503 |
75,010 |
-14 |
776,926 |
799,784 |
-2.9 |
|
Fiat |
56,717 |
78,471 |
-27.7 |
769,330 |
940,038 |
-18.2 |
|
BMW |
53,293 |
45,183 |
17.9 |
556,562 |
523,334 |
6.3 |
|
Mercedes |
52,849 |
50,068 |
5.6 |
546,652 |
543,846 |
0.5 |
|
Audi |
52,821 |
51,243 |
3.1 |
577,432 |
571,992 |
1 |
|
European car sales by |
||||||
|
Country |
Nov 10 |
Nov 09 |
% change Nov |
Year to date |
Year to date |
% change year to |
|
France |
193,913 |
216,354 |
-10.4 |
2,023,353 |
2,040,279 |
-0.8 |
|
Germany |
262,262 |
279,725 |
-6.2 |
2,685,889 |
3,591,611 |
-25.2 |
|
UK |
139,875 |
158,082 |
-11.5 |
1,907,029 |
1,844,063 |
3.4 |
|
Italy |
146,450 |
185,206 |
-20.9 |
1,838,922 |
2,002,989 |
-8.2 |
|
Spain |
64,821 |
87,023 |
-25.5 |
915,830 |
864,551 |
5.9 |
|
Source: Jato Dynamics |
||||||
