The UK new car market has experienced a
flatter start to the year than almost all European economies, with
January sales down 11.5 percent year-on-year, to 128,811 from
145,479 in January 2010.
According to statistics compiled by data
provider JATO, Italy, Greece, Spain and Denmark were the only other
European territories to show an inter-annual decline in
January.
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The British and Spanish markets both saw sales
in 2011’s first month drop by more than 16,500 units compared to
the previous year – these significant impacts saw the European
market as a whole drop by 0.9 percent year-on-year.
The continental slump came despite remarkable
growth in Eastern Europe and strong results from France (8.2
percent growth) and Germany (16.5 percent growth).
In manufacturing terms Germany also performed
well, with Volkswagen remaining top brand in Europe and BMW seeing
January sales rise 25.3 percent. According to Gareth Hession,
JATO’s vice president of automotive research, the rise of brands
such as BMW may cause changes in pricing later on down the line:
“The German brands go from strength to strength with ‘premium’
products like 5-series coming in the top 20 models selling over a
third more than supposed volume models like Opel insignia.
The more this ‘premium creep’ – the accessibility of highly
valued brands – continues the harder it is to maintain their price
differential.”
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