European New Car Registrations: January 2010

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Europe: Car registrations up 12.9% in January

By: David Isaiah, Tuesday, February 16, 2010, AutomotiveWorld.com

New passenger car registrations in the European Union rose by 12.9% in January 2010 to reach 1,058,868 units, compared with 938,026 cars registered in the same month a year earlier.

The depressed sales levels in January 2009 contributed to this year-on-year increase. This becomes clear when last month's registrations are compared with the numbers recorded in January 2008, showing a drop of 17.3%.

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There were only a handful of major vehicle manufacturing groups that failed to record year-on-year growth in new car sales in the EU. Daimler saw its sales slide by 15.6% to 39,814 units; Honda posted sales of 13,639 cars (-23.4%); Mazda managed 12,797 units (-24.8%); sales at Mitsubishi fell by 4% to 6,192 cars and Chrysler Group LLC posted a 26.4% drop to 2,922 units.

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Volkswagen Group led the market last month by way of sales volume, recording 217,027 cars sold (+11.3%), followed by PSA Peugeot Citroen with 148,273 units (+16.8%), and Renault Group in third place, accounting for sales of 114,373 cars (+59.5%).

Automotive World - Europe: Car registrations up 12.9% in January

New-car registrations in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland rose 13 percent to 1.09 million vehicles, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said today in a statement. That compares with a 16 percent increase in December. Sales in Germany, the region’s biggest market, fell for a second consecutive month.

“The German decline is indicative of imminent EU-wide scrappage overhang,” David Arnold, a London-based Credit Suisse analyst, said in an e-mailed report to clients.

French consumers continued taking delivery in January of cars ordered before the government scaled back incentives, helping the market expand 14 percent and propelling a 60 percent European sales surge at Renault SA and 18 percent gain at PSA Peugeot Citroen. In Germany, where a program offering 2,500 euros ($3,420) a car ran out of money in September, sales fell 4.3 percent, following a 4.6 percent drop in December.

“Demand in western Europe is likely to weaken considerably due to expiration of car-scrapping programs” in coming months, the VDA German automakers’ association said in a statement.

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Volkswagen AG, Europe’s biggest carmaker, recorded a 12 percent increase in sales in the region last month, led by a 29 percent jump at its no-frills Skoda brand. Turin, Italy-based Fiat SpA posted a 19 percent sales gain, helped by the domestic market’s 30 percent growth. Daimler AG’s sales fell 15 percent as its Smart city-car division posted a 29 percent drop.

European Car-Market Growth Slows as Incentives Are Phased Out - BusinessWeek

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