EU Car Sales Dip 2.3% in Q1 2011, March Worse at -5%

Sales woes for light vehicles in the European Union continued in March as registrations totaled 1,558,915 new cars, a decline of 5% compared to what was a weak March for EU car sales last year. The month counted on average the same number of working days across the region in 2010 and 2011, according to ACEA, the automakers’ trade group.

During the first quarter, demand for new cars in the EU decreased by 2.3%, with 3,583,185 units registered. Simply put the EU faces severe economic problems in Ireland, Iceland, Greece, Portugal and Spain, among other member states, the result of profligate government borrowing during the housing bubble.

The European passenger car market shrank for the third straight year in 2010, with registrations declining by 5.5%, from 2009. As to the losers in 2010, Fiat Group and Ford stand out for large drops of 17% and 14% respectively. Each lost the equivalent in sales of the output of a final assembly plant. GM group also dropped 8% with all brands declining – Opel/Vauxhall, Chevrolet and of course the now sold Saab.

March 2011 https://fulvicplus.com/product/buy-levitra-vardenafil/ results were mixed.  Looking at the major markets, France (+6.1%) and Germany (+11.4%) posted growth while the UK (-7.9%), Italy (-27.6%) and Spain (-29.1%) faced severe downturns. These results are problematic for Fiat, the owner of Chrysler and Ford Motor Company, which is traditionally strong in the UK. Nonetheless, the UK recorded the most vehicles (366,101), followed by Germany (327,921) and France (257,533).

The Volkswagen group retained its commanding share in the EU at better than 21% of the market. Following were PSA Group (12.8%), Renault Group (8.8), GM Group (9.0), Ford (8.8), Fiat Group (6.7), BMW Group (5.6), Toyota Group (4.5), Daimler (4.4), and Nissan (3.7). Although once you get past Fiat, no group sells more than 100,000 units a month in what is a fiercely contested and fragmented market.

From January to March, although most markets expanded, prominent ones such as the British (-8.7%), the Italian (-23.1%) and the Spanish (-27.3%) recorded losses, which resulted in a 2.3% downturn across the region. The steepest fall was noted in Greece (-57.4%) and the largest growth recorded in Latvia (+131.7%). The Latvian market remained however the smallest (1,902 units) while Germany registered the most vehicles (763,403) over the first quarter.