There may be a cloud of uncertainty hanging over Europe (and we all know that uncertainty doesn’t encourage people to spend) and the continent’s economy isn’t out of the woods yet, but new car sales is at its highest since 2007. November year to date car sales are up 6.8% compared to the same period in 2015, Autocar reports.
According to research by JATO Dynamics, Europeans bought a total of 13,937,339 cars in 2016 so far, with 1,184,140 of those sales taking place in November, which is 5% more compared to the same month in 2015. Despite Brexit concerns, the UK is Europe’s fourth-fastest-growing market, with YTD sales increasing by 2.9%. Spain and France are Europe’s highest jumpers, with demand up by 13% and 8.2% respectively.
At the top of the pile is of course the Volkswagen Group, despite its Dieselgate woes. The German giant has a European market share of 24.56%, which is just 0.28% lower than the same period in 2015. The Renault-Nissan Alliance is second with 14.1%, a 0.72% increase. The fastest growth was recorded by Daimler at 0.83%, for fifth overall. The PSA Group (Peugeot and Citroen) slipped 1.19% but is still third overall.
No surprises as to which segment is the fastest growing. SUVs accounted for 316,278 sales in November alone – up 16.1% year-on-year – and made up over a quarter (26.7%) of European car sales.
“It’s looking highly likely that 2016 will top 2015’s strong registration figures, which is a remarkable feat given the political and economic uncertainty that has dominated. However, it’s important that this growth isn’t taken for granted, as 2017 will bring further uncertainty, with the UK expected to trigger Article 50 in March, beginning the process of exiting the EU,” said Felipe Munoz, global automotive analyst at JATO Dynamics.
It is widely predicted that UK’s exit from the EU will dent consumer confidence in both Britain and mainland Europe, which means that 2016 could be the peak of car sales growth. But no one predicted such a strong showing for this year, so we never truly know. Closer to home, Malaysia and Thailand will both see declines in auto sales for 2016.
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Why here in bolehland Toyota sold very little than Honda? Toyota got commercial vehicles too,but why so low?
VW rocks!
People forget that Brexit is a UK problem. UK is no longer an important market anymore.
The question in many people mind is – Why did VW sold more vehicles than others despite many complaints of DSG & Dieselgate ??!
There Must be something VW is doing is RIGHT. Looks like the more bashing VW get, the more people are buying their products/vehicles.
Most probably the infamous DSG issue experienced here is not significant in Europe as the hot weather is only for 2-3 months in a year. The VW group is top seller in EU, Toyota and Nissan are each selling only ~20% of VW and Honda is just 5% of VW.
DSG? no. europeans prefer manual gearbox. even the elderly. unless they have disabilities.
suprima turbo? no way it can sell there as a CVT auto.
Suprima ass can’t meet the regulations la.
Infamous? That’s history. Today’s DSG since 2014 is reliable and nothing comes close to it. It’s just the best tranny.
Can’t generalize like that. Parts of Europe are rather hot… reaching 46 degrees. Malaysia can do that? Also, typically lots of temp changes, and a wide variety of temperatures are problematic. Basically European weather, where the things have to be able to withstand temperatures far below sub zero, as well as temperatures above 40 degree…
Europeans prefer their own products than oriental brand. VW had been at the top for years. Consumers sentiment unable to lower VW reputation as proven reputable brand
That’s not all though. Japanese cars aren’t too competitive in what Europeans care about, and that is despite the Japanese having special models for the European market that are designed to suit European tastes.