The June sales figures for the West European passenger car market are not as bad as they look according to JD Power-LMC. Their assessment of the June numbers is that the market is stabilising after the declines of the first four months.
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JD Power-LMC says that for the second consecutive month, the seasonally adjusted annualised selling rate (SAAR) – at 14.4 million units – actually increased after taking into account the impact of fewer reporting days.
However, the actual sales figures for Western Europe in June estimated by JD Power-LMC show sales of 1.28 million units – a decline of 8.3% over last year.
The long-depressed German market is said to be showing sign of improvement (up by 0.4% in June), but the Italian (down 18%) and Spanish (down 16.5%) markets were identified as particularly weak in June.
JD Power/LMC notes that in the case of Italy, incentives speculation is harming the market. There have been many reports that, in order to alleviate Fiat’s woes, the government is contemplating action to stimulate vehicle sales.
Note:
- Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg and Switzerland: estimates for latest month
- Italy: latest month provisional estimate by Motorizzazione, previous months based on estimate of eventual revisions to Motorizzazione data.
- Spain and Portugal: figures include sports utilities, which are reported separately from cars.
- Germany estimated from data excluding final days of month.
- UK: includes estimates for non-dealer sales.
- The percent change in the final column compares the average selling rate in the year-to-date with the last full year.
- The average of the seasonally adjusted selling rate for an entire year is by definition the total of sales in the year.
