General Motors Europe’s new B-segment Opel/Vauxhall Corsa was launched on Saturday with an advance order bank of 95,000 cars.
Go deeper with GlobalData
That, said the automaker’s vice president of sales, marketing and aftersales, Jonathan Browning, “is very encouraging, keeping in mind that our 2006 sales objective was 75,000.”
GM sold 1,527,275 vehicles in Europe in the first three quarters of 2006, a flat result compared with the first nine months of 2005. Its share of the European market was at 9.2% for the first three quarters and 9.5% for September.
“September was a good month for us and, over the first three quarters, we continue to grow much faster than the industry average with Saab and Chevrolet,” Browning added.
GM sold 122,350 vehicles in Eastern Europe, up 41,200 units (+51%).
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataWith European sales records for Saab and Chevrolet and a strong focus on the profitability of Opel and Vauxhall sales, a net income (after taxes and interest) of $US212m (H1 2005: $-62m) and a revenue gain of $137m could be achieved for the first half of 2006 (revenue: $16,83 billion), the automaker said.
It added it had “full order books” for the Corsa plus the new GM Daewoo-built Opel/Vauxhall Antara and Chevrolet Captiva SUVs.
With Europe-wide registrations totaling 1,203,918 in the first nine months of 2006, Opel/Vauxhall captured a market share of 7.3%. Especially in central and eastern Europe, Opel achieved substantial year-over-year sales increases for the first three quarters of 2006.
Registrations in south-east Europe rose 8% to 52,581 vehicles, in Poland by 9% to 19,551 vehicles, in Russia by 73% to 12,183 vehicles and in Ukraine by 138% to 6,605.
In western Europe, Opel sales increased mostly in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg (registrations up by 3,982 units to 90,769), and in Scandinavia (increase of 1,841 to 30,750 registrations).
The first nine months of 2006 have resulted in 102,498 Saab cars sold globally which means that the brand is still on track for a “best ever” year. Globally, Saab is keeping up the 6% increase compared to 2005 registrations. In Europe, Saab’s performance is better: with 70,565 cars sold, it enjoyed an 18.2% increase over the same period in 2005.
Saab experienced record sales for the first three quarters of this year in Spain, Belgium and Canada. In Spain, its success is a result of a long-term plan focused on network development, fleet sales and improving its presence in the very important Madrid metro area. For the month of September, Saab sold 9,434 cars in Europe, reaching a market share of 0.5%.
With 87,300 vehicles sold in the third quarter, largely GM-Daewoo-sourced Chevrolet (supplemented by Avtovaz-built cars in Russia and a few US imports Europe-wide) reached a record quarterly sales volume and a record market share of 1.73% in total Europe.
From January to September 2006, Chevrolet sold a total of 247,871 vehicles, increasing its European sales volume by 10.8% compared to last year. Its market share for this period reached 1.5%. In a declining September market, Chevrolet Italia was able to increase its January to September sales from 25,558 to 27,695 units, reaching a market share of 1.4%. The growth rate of Chevrolet Germany in this period was 8%, with sales reaching 16,527 units. The largest volume increase took place in Russia, where Chevrolet sales grew from 47,586 to 77,292 units. Chevrolet had another strong month in September, selling 32,004 vehicles in Europe, compared to 30,158 in September 2005.
The 6.1% growth was mainly driven by the eastern European countries, where Hungary reached the highest market share in comparison to all EU countries with 7.41% of the passenger car market. The European market share for September was at 1.6%. With 11,170 units sold in September, Russia was again Chevrolet’s number one market in Europe.
Cadillac continued to grow in Europe where 2,645 cars were sold in the first nine months of 2006, up 30% compared to the same period last year. The range has been boosted by the launch of the 9-3-based BLS built in Europe by Saab.
Hummer tripled sales of the H2 and H3 to 1,230 vehicles, from 394 vehicles in 2005.
The H3 should get a boost soon as sales of right-hand drive and diesel models built in a new plant in South Africa begin to kick in.
