China continues to be the market to watch in Asia with GM leading Volkswagen in sales.
The sale of new cars and light trucks in 2011 are projected to reach 76.5 million units, which would surpass the record of 72 million light vehicles sold 2010, according to J.D. Power and Associates Automotive Forecasting.
If accurate, this would be a 6% increase in global vehicle sales compared with 2010, which topped the previous record of 70 million units set in 2007, before the collapse of the financial markets.
“Overall growth in the world economy has been supporting further recovery in auto sales,” said John Humphrey, senior vice president of automotive operations at J.D. Power and Associates. “We’re seeing signals of stability and increased consumer demand for new vehicles as economic optimism increases.”
Most regions saw some vehicle sales growth in 2010, including North America, South America and Asia, with China being the economic tiger.
Western Europe and Japan were notable exceptions to the trend, as the expiration of taxpayer-subsidized programs contracted the markets.
Europe is particularly problematic for General Motors’ Opel subsidiary, Ford Motor Company, and Fiat, the owner of Chrysler. The financial performances of all are being hurt by terrible results in Western Europe.
For the first time in 2010, emerging auto markets accounted for more than 50% of global light-vehicle sales. This shift in automotive production has been going on for at least a decade, and is expected to continue indefinitely.
In North America, the U.S. market saw sales of 11.6 million light vehicles in 2010—an 11% increase from 2009 as retailers sold 10.4 million units. Canada’s light-vehicle sales in 2010 finished at 1.6 million units—a 7% increase from 2009.
Light-vehicle sales in Europe were flat in 2010 at 18.2 million units. Western Europe was down 4% for the year.
The Asia Pacific region’s mature markets—Japan, Korea and Australia—ended 2010 with mixed results. Japan’s selling rate improved slightly in December but it’s still contracting. Korea’s sales remained strong. Australia ended 2010 with the second-highest annual sales total in its history.
China ended 2010 on a high note, with December’s selling rate coming in at 19 million units. China’s light-vehicle sales were up by more than 30% from 2009, to 17.2 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles sold. India also exhibited strong growth of more than 30% in 2010 and finished the year at 2.7 million units.
“China continues to be the market to watch in Asia, and the driver for global market growth,” said John Zeng, director of Asian automotive forecasting at J.D. Power Asia Pacific, Shanghai. “China’s automotive market remained robust in 2010, defying all expectations that the market would slow along with the economy. We expect sales to slow somewhat in 2011, but still maintain double-digit growth.”
South America also outperformed much of the world in 2010, as its strong regional economy, projected to be up 6% from 2009, continues to expand.
