Car sales in Western Europe fell by 2.4% in June according to data released by LMC Automotive. The European car market is continuing to struggle against a background of lower economic growth and continued uncertainty generated by the eurozone’s ongoing difficulties.
Car sales reached 1.17m units in June and for the first half totalled 6,473,876 units, some 7.2% down on last year.
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The market in June slipped back for the ninth month in a row, despite the advantage of an extra selling day. The Seasonally Adjusted Annualised Rate (SAAR) of sales slowed to just 12.1m units a year.
LMC said that the selling rate decline to 12.1m would have been even worse were it not for a sales push in the Netherlands related to a change in car emissions-related legislation (probably adding circa 300,000 units/year to the region’s selling rate).
The Italian and Spanish markets continue to be a source of concern, LMC said. The Italian car market showed real weakness last month as the selling rate dipped to 1.37m units a year, the market having been slightly stronger the preceding couple of months. A shadow is being cast over the car market by the wider economic problems, something that will continue to keep the market pegged back for the foreseeable future. Economic recession lies behind Spanish market woes as well, with it struggling at little better than 700,000 units a year.
Slightly better news came in from the French market, where the selling rate climbed above 2m units a year. However, some will be disappointed to hear that the French government has decided not to introduce scrappage incentives once again to support the market there (instead, it is looking to promote research and development).
The German market was up in year-on-year terms, though the selling rate slipped to 3m units a year, which LMC said is a worrying sign in a market that has seen a softening in private sales in recent months.
In contrast to the worrying signs seen elsewhere in Europe, the UK market picked up well in June, encouragingly driven by private sales (year-to-date private sales were up 8.7%).
LMC forecasts West European car sales of 12.01m units for the year, 6.2% down on last year.
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