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NEWS
Europe rebounds
Surprise chargers help the European car market rise 5.5 per centThe troubled European car market has rebounded to post its fifth straight month of growth in January.
Once cursed as the weights dragging the continent down, Ireland, Iceland, Portugal, Greece, Spain and even Italy were amongst the leading players in the January market.
But the Association of European Carmakers sounded a note of warning, pointing out that the figure was still the second lowest January sales number in Europe since it began recording figures on the EU’s members states in 2003.
The true test of Europe’s rebound will come in March, traditionally the continent’s biggest sales month with nearly 1.5 million cars sold in 2013.
The countries once derided as the PIGS, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain, all rebounded, with Ireland growing 32.8 per cent year-on-year, Portugal leaping 31.8 per cent, Greece 15.4 per cent and Spain up 7.6 per cent.
Other smaller countries also rose, including a 24.8 per cent leap for Slovenia, 24.7 per cent for Latvia, 23.8 per cent for Finland, 19.7 per cent for Hungary and 18.8 per cent for Sweden.
Germany remained the strongest car market, with almost 206,000 sales in January, followed by the UK with 154,562, France with 125,454, Italy with 117,802 and Spain with 53,436.
More than a quarter of all new cars sold in the EU in January were out of the Volkswagen Group, with the mother brand itself claiming the biggest market share with 12.7 per cent.
The German giant sold 237,538 cars in January, with 118,980 of them wearing the VW badge to claim the sales lead – and by some margin.
Its nearest volume rival was Peugeot, with 59,947 cars, followed closely by Renault with 58,337 and Opel with 54,041. Citroen almost crossed the 50,000-car threshold with 46,846, followed by Fiat. Toyota, the best of the Asians, was close on their heels.
The strongest gains came from the Renault-owned Dacia budget, no-frills brand, which picked up an astonishing 38.9 per cent growth, followed by Mazda with 34.9 per cent. Mazda isn’t as strong in Europe as it is here, with the Japanese brand selling just 13,417 cars across the EU in January.
Toyota had a strong month in growth as well as sales, rising 16.4 per cent, while Mitsubishi, off a much lower base, sold 12.5 per cent more this January than last year.
Audi was easily the best of the prestige brands, growing 9.5 per cent to sell 52,691 cars in January, stalked by BMW and Mercedes-Benz, and followed some distance back by Volvo. Lexus grew a shocking 25.7 per cent, but still sold barely 2000 cars.
It wasn’t good news for all the prestige brands, though. Infiniti failed to register on the front sheet of the data, while Alfa sold barely 4341 cars, which was a 20 per cent drop over 2013 and Jaguar sales fell almost 10 per cent to 1840.
The Koreans have either slightly fallen (with Hyundai’s sales down 5.9 per cent to just over 30,000) or barely held station (with Kia up three per cent to 24,108).
But Hyundai was unconcerned, insisting it would not risk its organic growth by offering discounts or subsidies in a chase for quick market share.
“Today’s figures show that we’re on the road to recovery,” Hyundai Motor Europe’s Chief Operating Officer, Allan Rushforth, said.
“The question is how much of that recovery is organic and how much is the result of actions taken by governments and carmakers.”
Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
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Written byMichael Taylor
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