EDITED PRESS RELEASE

• Market down 2.3% Year-to-Date (YtD)
• Market down 8.7% in June
• VW Golf retains position as Europe’s best-selling car
• Volkswagen is Europe’s top-selling brand

Data provider JATO Dynamics has reported that after strong sales
figures at the beginning of the year, June has continued the recent
slowdown in the European car market, with a drop of 8.2 per cent
(131,876 units) compared with the same month last year, posting a
total sales volume of 1,389,418 units.

“The dip in sales has accelerated in June compared with May and
continues the recent downward trend in the market over the past few
months. However, the world’s leading manufacturers are mitigating
the impact of the credit crunch and rising oil prices through
continued product innovation, new and exciting models and major
advances in fuel economy,” says Nasir Shah, global business
development director at JATO.

The slowing market in recent months has begun to impact on
year-to-date (YtD) figures of 8,196,762 units which are now 2.3 per
cent (or 192,264 units) behind last year’s, despite a healthy
performance in the first quarter.

Brand performance

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Volkswagen maintains its lead at the top of the European market,
heading the sales league in both June and YtD. In June second place
was held by Opel/Vauxhall, followed by Renault, Ford and Peugeot,
while YtD Ford held second place from Opel/Vauxhall, Renault and
Peugeot.

BMW has done well to achieve a 6.1 per cent growth in sales
compared YtD, helped by an expanded range of models. Fiat has also
performed well (up 2.7 per cent); due to the success of the new 500
and Bravo models, whilst Mercedes achieved YtD figures which
exactly mirror those of last year’s.

Outside of the top ten brands, Jaguar (up 22.5 per cent), Dacia
(up 9.8 per cent) and Mini (up 5.7 per cent) all recorded positive
figures in June. Daihatsu (up 11.9 per cent) saw growth shoot up as
a result of the Cuore/Charade and Sirion models’ low fuel
consumption and attractive CO2 ratings.

Top 10 brands

National trends

The German market remains the largest in Europe, helped by a 1
per cent rise in June. The French market (up 1.5 per cent in June
and 4.5 per cent YtD) has continued to grow as a result of
environmental incentives on new cars which provide rebates to
buyers purchasing new cars with CO2 emissions of less than 130g/km.
The Spanish market experienced a fall of 50,000 units, or 30 per
cent.

In some of the developing markets there was some significant
growth in the first half of the year, particularly Slovakia (19.6
per cent), the Czech Republic (10.7 per cent) and Poland (12.6 per
cent).

In percentage terms, Denmark (down 62.4 per cent), Ireland (down
48.3 per cent) and Latvia (down 45.6 per cent) recorded significant
declines in June, demonstrating worsening market conditions in
Europe.

Motor Finance Issue: 45 – July 08
Published for the web: July 18 08 18:30
Last Updated: July 18 08 18:32