Western Europe’s depressed car market is forecast by the German motor trade association VDA to edge into growth in 2014.
The VDA said it expects Western Europe’s car market to grow by around 2% next year, to around 11.6m units. The VDA’s prognosis for a very gradual recovery of demand is consistent with other forecasts. The VDA pointed out that the revival is not vigorous and is “more of a sideways movement”.
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The VDA also expects an overall world car market of 74.7m units in 2014, up 3% on this year. The Chinese car marke cont is expected to grow by 7% in 2014 to 17.1m units, with the US close to 16m units.
Western Europe’s car market has plunged to a level last seen in the early 1990s, but has shown signs of growth in recent months. However, analysts caution that car market growth is coming off a low base, that the eurozone economy is seeing a shallow recovery from unprecedented recession and that consumer confidence across the region remains low.
See also: ANALYSIS: World light vehicle market set for new record in 2013
