The West European car market fell by 8.5% year-on-year (YoY) in August according to data released by LMC Automotive. However, the contraction was largely explained by the comparison with the inflated market last year – which was distorted by sales being pulled forward ahead of the implementation of WLTP on 1st September 2018. After taking that into account, August was nevertheless a strong month for car sales in the region.

LMC said the annualised selling rate for the region jumped to 16.9m units a year in August, up from 14.3m units a year in July.

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The German market continued to defy a weakening economy with the annualised sales rate up to 4.3m units a year – the second highest result in the last decade. The UK saw a similar spike in the selling rate, towards 3.1m units a year, as sales fell by 1.6% in YoY terms.

 In France, sales fell 14.1% YoY in August, but the selling rate surged to 2.6m units a year. Italy saw a YoY decline of 3.1%, while the selling rate leapt to 2.2m units a year. A 30.8% YoY contraction in the Spanish market was the most dramatic fall in Europe, but the selling rate still rose towards 1.4m units a year, the second highest reading in the last 12 months.

However, Western European sales have decreased 3.6% YoY in the year to date (YTD). LMC said though, that the rest of the year should see the monthly YoY comparisons turn positive, which would enable 2019 to achieve modest full-year growth of 0.2% on 2018 – with the market at around 14.2m units.

LMC said a low base effect will be at work for the remainder of the year as sales last year were weak sales from September to December 2018, when some OEMs’ failure to obtain timely homologation under WLTP led to the unavailability of some models.

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LMC cautioned however that last month’s strong sales in Europe may have been the result of an increased use of self-registrations by dealers and OEMs, ahead of further changes to WLTP regulations which came into effect on 1st September. “We may therefore see some payback in selling rates in the coming months,” said LMC analyst Jonathon Poskitt. He added: “It would be wise to treat August’s uptick in selling rates with caution, especially given a macroeconomic environment which seems unsupportive of big-ticket purchases at the present time. We’ve just had some unexpectedly poor data on German industrial output which confirms German exports are weaker, reflecting current concerns for the global economy and international trade.”