WLTP smashes Europe

A lack of WLTP-compliant cars has hurt carmakers across Europe with some suggesting their sales won’t recover until at least November.

With a new testing process coming into affect from September 1 many carmakers failed to push enough models through the tougher Worldwide Light Duty Vehicles Harmonised Test Procedure (WLTP) resulting in most of them didn’t have enough cars for sale.

The European market plummeted 23.5 percent in September, with Germany being poleaxed by 30.5 percent.

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) blamed the WLTP for the collapse, and insisted buyers (and carmakers) getting in ahead of the new certification test caused the 32-percent spike in August sales.

Some of Europe’s biggest markets were humbled in September, collapsing against the 2017 September sales figures by up to 70 percent (Romania).

The engine rooms of European sales were hit hard, with Germany, the continent’s traditional powerhouse, down almost 90,000 cars for the month. The UK were down 20.5 percent to 338,834 cars, Sweden off 39.7 percent, Austria smashed down by 40.5 percent and France down 12.8 percent.

The only nations to escape the carnage were sales minnows Croatia and Bulgaria, accounting for less than 6000 cars between them.

Some brands fared worse than others, with Ford dropped into the unusual position of having full stock approved in the WLTP across the board, losing 13.7 percent of its 2017 September sales and yet gaining in market share.

Volkswagen warned it was in for a rough ride in September, and so it proved, with the mothership brand losing 48 percent and the Group (including Bentley, Audi, Seat, Skoda and Porsche) down 51 percent.

“Developments in September were a setback, but we had been expecting this following the records in the summer,” Volkswagen’s Board Member for Sales, Jürgen Stackmann, admitted.

“October will also be affected by the changeover to the WLTP test procedure. From November, we will be ready for the end-of-the-year sprint.”

The worst hit was Porsche, down two thirds for the month, closely followed by Audi, down 60 percent and even Skoda and Seat, its budget brands, were both down around 30 percent for the month.

Volkswagen Group retained its market leadership, though, selling 178,201 cars and SUVs during September, while the other European contender for the world’s biggest carmaker, the Renault-Nissan alliance, saw both of its base continents slide backwards.

The Renault brand shed 31 percent of its volume, Dacia 14 percent and the freshly reborn Lada dropped 21 percent. It was worse in Europe for Nissan, though, with the brand dropping 43 percent.

BMW fell 8.8 percent, which was, critically, less than Benz’s 12.1 percent, allowing the Bavarians to slip past the Swabians to retain its global premium lead.

It wasn’t much better at FCA, where it fell 32.8 percent, with even the perpetually growing Jeep having 7.3 percent chipped away from its volumes, while Alfa Romeo was hammered by more than half of its sales, almost matching Audi with a 59-percent plummet.

There were only three brands fast enough and forward-thinking enough in their homologation processes to actually grow in September: Kia, Volvo and Jaguar.

Jaguar glided through the troubled waters, with 33.5-percent growth (though Land Rover fell 17 percent), while Kia crept forward 4.3 percent and Volvo 3.1 percent.

The European market remains up for the year but only by 2.5 percent and there remain concerns over the number of model and powertrain variants each brand will have ready for the rest of October and into November.

“The WLTP led many customers in Western European markets to bring forward their purchasing decisions, resulting in extraordinary growth in delivery figures over the summer months and now, as expected, to the severe falls in September, also in the overall market,” Stackmann explained.