Following January’s positive start to the year, when western European new car registrations were up 3.12% on the same month in 2004, sales fell 0.69% in February to 1,040,541 units.
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However, the crucial high-volume lower-medium segment is continuing its resurgence, up 5.24% for the month while small MPV [minivan] sales declined by almost the same percentage – off 5.33% in February. Upper-medium models were up as well, and the sports car category also continued to grow.
Individual markets
Of the ‘big five’ countries, registrations in Germany, France and Spain grew in February, by 3.15%, 2.99% and 3.72% respectively. Italy was down 3.61% but the UK market fell a whopping 15.71%. The UK is 10.55% down for the year so far, while the best YTD performers are Spain (+5.33%) and France (+4.71%).
Brands
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By GlobalDataRenault remained western Europe’s top-selling brand, ahead of Volkswagen and Opel/Vauxhall, the new Astra spurring the latter to becoming the only car maker in the top 10 to improve over February 2004 (+3.77%), and the only one other than VW up YTD (+1.85%).
Outside the top 10, BMW was up 30.13% for the month and posted YTD growth of 15.1%. Despite doubts about its future, the Smart brand was up 35.09% in February, and up 33.96% YTD. Skoda is impressive, up 14.9% in February and 12.38% YTD.
Models
While the VW Golf remained Western Europe’s best-selling car, the star performer is GM Europe’s new Astra, up 60.2% for the month and 66.0% YTD, placing it fourth YTD, only a few hundred units behind Ford’s Focus. The recently redesigned Focus was the only other model in the top eight achieving volume growth.
Segment highlights
Sales in the mini segment are significantly down for the year (-0.35%) after a 3.69% fall in February, attributable to the lack of new models following a flurry of launches in late 2003 and early 2004. The Fiat Panda led and is still growing in sales, up 5.3% for the month. Superminis also suffered, down 4.85% in February and 4.5% YTD. The Peugeot 206 led the segment despite the falling sales for both month and year that have, apparently led to the axing of a shift and 850 jobs at the UK plant that builds a sizeable proportion of the cars.
The lower-medium segment was led by the Golf, Focus, Astra, Peugeot 307 and Renault Mégane. However, the category’s strong performance is being pushed along by models further down the sales table. The Mazda 3 was up 35.4% in February to register 31.2% growth YTD, and recently launched models performing well include the Citroën C4, Seat Altea, Kia Cerato and Chevrolet [née Daewoo] Lacetti.
Among the new-found resilience of models in the upper-medium segment, up 0.55% in February and 1.98% YTD, Peugeot’s 407 stands out, taking the top spot YTD and only 200 units behind VW’s Passat for the month. The Skoda Octavia occupied fourth place, behind the Ford Mondeo but ahead of the Renault Laguna.
Executive car registrations fell in February by 2.64% and were down 6.12% YTD. The BMW 5-series topped the category for the month, beating the Mercedes-Benz E-class and Audi A6 (up 35.4%). Things were worse in the luxury segment, where a 7.43% drop in monthly registrations contributed to a YTD decline of 16.3%. BMW’s newly refreshed 7-series led Mercedes’ ageing S-class and Audi’s also-just-face-lifted A8 for the month.
Following sustained growth, the mini/midi MPV segment appears to have matured, with YTD registrations down by 1.41%. The Renault Scénic/Grand Scénic led the Opel/Vauxhall Zafira and Ford Focus C-Max, but the most notable performances were posted by the recently redesigned Toyota Corolla Verso (now available with two extra seats) and the now less controversially styled Fiat Multipla, which were up YTD 82.8% and 142.0% respectively. Full-size MPV volume is now declining significantly – February saw a 19.4% fall, leaving the segment down 16.85% for the year.
The SUV segment is still growing, but at a slower rate than in recent years (6.1% YTD). Toyota’s RAV-4 still led, but the BMW X3 in second closed up, with volume up 76.8% in February and 162.0% YTD. Thank the availability of diesel versions for that.
West European registrations of sports cars remained remarkably buoyant, with Mercedes’ SLK in the number one spot, the leader in segment growth of 15.33% for the month and up 14.81% YTD.
