Figures released today by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, ACEA, show that in September West European new car sales rose by 3.1% over the same month of last year. The market gain was underpinned by strong demand in the UK and France. The German and Italian markets both posted substantial declines.


Sales in September reached 1.3 million units and in the first nine months stand at 11.6 million units. The cumulative first nine months sales figure shows variation of -0.5% against the same period of 2000.

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ACEA said in a statement that the September figures show ‘that no immediate slump occurred in Europe due to the attacks of the 11th September.’


ACEA added that ‘it is too early to interpret the impact of the aftermath on the European consumer confidence regarding car purchasing, as the time gap between orders and deliveries averages 4 weeks.’


At manufacturer level, the main September winner was PSA, boosted by recent model introductions and a particularly strong performance in the French market.


The overall market leader was the VW Group, with Audi and Skoda turning in positive growth figures in September.


Table 1: European union + EFTA Countries new passenger car registration figures by market.




























































































































































































 Sep Sep % Chg Jan-Sep Jan-Sep % Chg
’01 ’00 00/01 ’01 ’00 00/01
AUSTRIA** 20,493 23,217 -11.7 238,834 251,199 -4.9
BELGIUM 30,593 31,519 -2.9 391,960 422,875 -7.3
DENMARK 6,686 7,787 -14.1 73,609 88,263 -16.6
FINLAND 8,198 9,663 -15.2 88,274 110,087 -19.8
FRANCE 153,044 150,191 +1.9 1,713,958 1,621,320 +5.7
GERMANY 260,000 270,393 -3.8 2,556,067 2,611,894 -2.1
GREECE 18,331 19,846 -7.6 228,432 235,851 -3.1
IRELAND 5,546 9,444 -41.3 155,816 219,448 -29.0
ITALY 163,200 183,152 -10.9 1,907,600 1,935,484 -1.4
LUXEMBOURG** 2,559 2,610 -2.0 34,393 34,101 +0.9
NETHERLANDS 40,612 43,349 -6.3 439,546 497,333 -11.6
PORTUGAL 15,305 15,380 -0.5 196,157 203,571 -3.6
SPAIN 85,068 85,637 -0.7 1,109,497 1,081,403 +2.6
SWEDEN 18,928 24,338 -22.2 182,276 215,260 -15.3
UNITED KINGDOM 443,265 353,494 +25.4 1,962,700 1,797,731 +9.2
EUROPEAN UNION 1,271,828 1,230,020 +3.4 11,279,119 11,325,820 -0.4
ICELAND** 513 1,071 -52.1 6,165 11,435 -46.1
NORWAY 7,058 7,161 -1.4 70,261 76,351 -8.0
SWITZERLAND** 22,081 24,186 -8.7 245,938 247,966 -0.8
EFTA 29,652 32,418 -8.5 322,364 335,752 -4.0
WEST. EUROPE* 1,301,480 1,262,438 +3.1 11,601,483 11,661,572 -0.5
Source: ACEA estimates

(**) The figures for these countries are provisional.



Table 2: European Union + EFTA Countries new passenger car registration figures by manufacturer









































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































September January to September
%Share Units Units % Chg %Share Units Units % Chg
’01 ’00 ’01 ’00 00/01 ’01 ’00 ’01 ’00 00/01
ALL BRANDS 1,301,480 1,262,438 +3.1 11,601,483 11,661,572 -0.5
VW Group 17.8 17.9 231,055 225,800 +2.3 18.9 18.5 2,194,235 2,153,634 +1.9
VOLKSWAGEN 10.4 11.1 135,894 139,878 -2.8 10.9 11.0 1,266,386 1,277,884 -0.9
AUDI 3.5 3.0 45,117 37,415 +20.6 3.6 3.2 412,823 376,518 +9.6
SEAT 2.1 2.4 27,470 29,922 -8.2 2.8 2.9 321,731 336,360 -4.3
SKODA 1.7 1.5 22,574 18,585 +21.5 1.7 1.4 193,295 162,872 +18.7
PSA Group 14.5 12.4 188,623 157,084 +20.1 14.2 12.9 1,652,250 1,503,896 +9.9
PEUGEOT 8.5 7.8 111,001 98,911 +12.2 8.4 7.7 978,311 902,745 +8.4
CITROEN 6.0 4.6 77,622 58,173 +33.4 5.8 5.2 673,939 601,151 +12.1
FORD Group 13.5 12.9 175,543 163,192 +7.6 11.3 10.9 1,310,645 1,274,112 +2.9
FORD 10.5 10.2 136,942 128,623 +6.5 9.0 8.7 1,047,647 1,010,320 +3.7
VOLVO 1.6 1.7 21,189 21,869 -3.1 1.5 1.5 172,324 172,908 -0.3
LAND ROVER 0.8 0.7 10,312 8,845 +16.6 0.5 0.5 60,593 63,197 -4.1
JAGUAR 0.5 0.3 7,100 3,855 +84.2 0.3 0.2 30,081 27,687 +8.6
GM Group 11.1 10.7 144,124 135,104 +6.7 11.0 10.9 1,274,198 1,267,559 +0.5
OPEL/VAUXHALL 10.5 10.1 137,236 126,974 +8.1 10.5 10.3 1,213,273 1,197,554 +1.3
SAAB 0.5 0.6 6,232 7,411 -15.9 0.5 0.5 54,237 61,822 -12.3
OTHERS 0.1 0.1 656 719 -8.8 0.1 0.1 6,688 8,183 -18.3
FIAT Group 7.8 9.1 101,857 114,587 -11.1 9.7 10.2 1,126,642 1,190,515 -5.4
FIAT 6.0 6.9 78,359 87,471 -10.4 7.3 7.8 846,637 909,310 -6.9
LANCIA 0.7 1.1 9,054 13,304 -31.9 1.0 1.2 118,709 140,468 -15.5
ALFA ROMEO 1.1 1.1 14,129 13,500 +4.7 1.4 1.2 158,250 137,424 +15.2
OTHERS 0.0 0.0 315 312 +1.0 0.0 0.0 3,046 3,313 -8.1
JAPANESE 12.2 12.4 159,152 156,599 +1.6 10.6 11.5 1,231,084 1,341,245 -8.2
TOYOTA 4.2 4.2 54,169 52,397 +3.4 3.8 3.7 435,174 432,436 +0.6
NISSAN 2.8 2.9 36,094 37,139 -2.8 2.6 2.7 295,885 311,614 -5.0
MITSUBISHI 0.9 1.1 12,170 13,418 -9.3 0.9 1.1 103,099 129,520 -20.4
MAZDA 1.1 1.1 14,356 14,032 +2.3 1.0 1.3 111,220 150,528 -26.1
HONDA 1.5 1.5 19,788 19,363 +2.2 1.1 1.3 124,958 147,872 -15.5
SUZUKI 1.2 1.0 16,198 12,350 +31.2 1.0 0.9 110,733 103,714 +6.8
OTHERS 0.5 0.6 6,377 7,900 -19.3 0.4 0.6 50,015 65,561 -23.7
RENAULT 9.4 9.3 122,138 116,918 +4.5 10.4 10.5 1,205,385 1,228,837 -1.9
DaimlerChrysler 6.2 6.5 81,054 81,947 -1.1 6.2 5.9 723,154 690,051 +4.8
MERCEDES 4.9 5.2 63,800 65,700 -2.9 4.9 4.6 570,000 541,200 +5.3
SMART 0.6 0.6 8,350 8,150 +2.5 0.7 0.6 76,150 74,400 +2.4
CHRYSLER 0.7 0.6 8,904 8,097 +10.0 0.7 0.6 77,004 74,451 +3.4
BMW Group 3.7 3.6 47,755 45,792 +4.3 3.5 3.3 406,115 385,873 +5.2
BMW 3.3 3.6 42,414 45,792 -7.4 3.4 3.3 399,101 385,873 +3.4
Mini 0.4 0.0 5,341 0 +0.0 0.1 0.0 7,014 0 +0.0
KOREAN 1.9 3.5 24,879 43,642 -43.0 2.7 3.5 312,494 408,228 -23.5
HYUNDAI 1.5 1.4 19,463 18,012 +8.1 1.5 1.6 172,112 183,911 -6.4
OTHERS 0.4 2.0 5,416 25,630 -78.9 1.2 1.9 140,382 224,317 -37.4
MG ROVER Group 1.7 1.4 22,290 17,274 +29.0 1.1 1.4 125,766 165,075 -23.8
Source: ACEA estimates

GM Group/Others includes IBC & GM (US)
FORD Group/Ford includes Ford (US)
FIAT Group: FIAT includes innocenti/others includes Ferrari & Masserati












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