Europe In March 2012: Car-nage

European car sales are getting it on the chin. Sale in the EU were down the sixth consecutive month, with a decline of 7.0 percent compared to March last year, ACEA says. March is prime selling season in Europe, and customers refuse to buy. March registrations have not been at this level since 1998. January to March, car sales in Europe are down 7.7 percent. March March % Chg '12 '11 12/11 AUSTRIA 37,933 35,869 +5.8 BELGIUM 59,915 63,533 -5.7 BULGARIA 1,483 1,589 -6.6 CYPRUS 1,000 1,539 -35.0 CZECH REPUBLIC 17,064 17,501 -2.5 DENMARK 12,386 16,796 -26.3 ESTONIA 1,565 1,218 +28.5 FINLAND 22,924 12,585 +82.2 FRANCE 197,774 257,533 -23.2 GERMANY 339,123 327,921 +3.4 GREECE 4,901 8,531 -42.6 HUNGARY 4,768 4,457 +7.0 IRELAND 13,100 14,396 -9.0 ITALY 138,137 188,495 -26.7 LATVIA 879 873 +0.7 LITHUANIA 1,003 1,096 -8.5 LUXEMBURG 5,319 5,660 -6.0 NETHERLANDS 52,549 56,601 -7.2 POLAND 29,630 27,289 +8.6 PORTUGAL 9,622 18,930 -49.2 ROMANIA 4,902 3,793 +29.2 SLOVAKIA 6,427 6,480 -0.8 SLOVENIA 5,186 5,909 -12.2 SPAIN 84,427 88,397 -4.5 SWEDEN 28,555 29,527 -3.3 UNITED KINGDOM 372,835 366,101 +1.8 EUROPEAN UNION (EU27)* 1,453,407 1,562,619 -7.0 The numbers would be much worse if volume markets Germany (+3.4 percent) and UK (+1.8 percent) would not have provided some ups in a down market. The other volume markets, Italy (-26.7 percent) and France (-23.2 percent) look horrendous. March EU     %Share Units Units % Chg '12 '11 '12 '11 12/11 ALL BRANDS 1,453,407 1,562,619 -7.0 VW Group 23.4 21.5 340,164 335,647 +1.3 VOLKSWAGEN 12.2 11.0 177,505 172,623 +2.8 AUDI 5.6 4.8 80,907 75,544 +7.1 SEAT 2.1 2.3 30,118 35,799 -15.9 SKODA 3.5 3.3 51,331 51,441 -0.2 Others 0.0 0.0 303 240 +26.3 PSA Group 11.1 12.9 161,938 200,845 -19.4 PEUGEOT 6.0 6.9 87,166 107,568 -19.0 CITROEN 5.1 6.0 74,772 93,277 -19.8 RENAULT Group 7.6 8.9 110,757 139,516 -20.6 RENAULT 6.3 7.3 91,344 113,880 -19.8 DACIA 1.3 1.6 19,413 25,636 -24.3 FORD 8.8 8.9 128,580 139,337 -7.7 GM Group 8.8 9.1 127,205 141,963 -10.4 OPEL/VAUXHALL 7.5 7.9 108,844 122,981 -11.5 CHEVROLET 1.3 1.2 18,336 18,949 -3.2 GM (US) 0.0 0.0 25 33 -24.2 FIAT Group 5.5 6.9 79,742 107,955 -26.1 FIAT 4.0 5.1 57,514 79,103 -27.3 LANCIA/CHRYSLER 0.6 0.7 9,157 10,565 -13.3 ALFA ROMEO 0.7 1.0 9,862 15,802 -37.6 JEEP 0.2 0.1 2,648 1,713 +54.6 Others 0.0 0.0 561 772 -27.3 BMW Group 6.2 5.6 90,501 87,807 +3.1 BMW 4.9 4.3 71,542 67,926 +5.3 MINI 1.3 1.3 18,959 19,881 -4.6 DAIMLER 4.9 4.4 71,696 68,727 +4.3 MERCEDES 4.4 3.9 63,787 60,184 +6.0 SMART 0.5 0.5 7,909 8,543 -7.4 TOYOTA Group 4.7 4.5 67,930 69,937 -2.9 TOYOTA 4.4 4.2 64,425 66,085 -2.5 LEXUS 0.2 0.2 3,505 3,852 -9.0 NISSAN 4.2 3.7 60,945 58,458 +4.3 HYUNDAI 3.3 2.7 48,437 42,757 +13.3 KIA 2.4 1.9 34,757 29,449 +18.0 VOLVO 1.7 1.7 24,344 27,278 -10.8 SUZUKI 1.3 1.3 18,938 20,941 -9.6 JAGUAR LAND ROVER Group 1.4 1.1 20,734 16,605 +24.9 LAND ROVER 1.1 0.8 16,570 12,702 +30.4 JAGUAR 0.3 0.2 4,164 3,903 +6.7 MAZDA 1.4 1.3 20,251 20,661 -2.0 HONDA 1.3 1.6 18,864 24,712 -23.7 MITSUBISHI 0.6 0.8 8,897 12,852 -30.8 OTHER 1.3 1.1 18,727 17,172 +9.1 On the manufacturer front, FIAT loses 26.1 percent, PSA 19.4 percent, and Renault 20.6 percent. All the while in Germany, Volkswagen adds 1.3 percent, BMW increases EU sales by 3.1 percent, Daimler by 4.3 percent. No such luck at GM (- 10.4 percent) and Ford (-7.7 percent.) Data can be downloaded  here as PDF and here as Excel document.   from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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