Car sales in Western Europe grew by 12.6% in November, bouncing back after a weak October, according to data released by LMC Automotive.
The annualised selling rate (SAAR) climbed to 13.6m units a year in November, an impressive result. LMC forecasts that the market for the calendar year will hit 13.1m units, a gain of 8.2% on 2014.
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Further solid, if slower (3.3%), growth is expected for the Western European car market in 2016 which would take it to 13.5m units.
November’s car market was driven by strong results in national markets across the region and especially in Spain and Italy.
The Spanish car market recorded its best November result since 2009 last month, with sales exceeding 80,000 units. The year-to-date growth rate now stands at 21%. To continue supporting the recovery, the Spanish government has announced it is extending the current PIVE 8 scrappage scheme through to mid-2016, as the industry seeks to rejuvenate car parc.
November also saw a return to double-digit growth (+23.5%) for Italy’s car registrations.
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By GlobalDataThe German car market was up by 8.9% in November, to leave the year-to-date market up by 5.4%. Both corporate and private retail registrations reported strong growth last month.
New car registrations in the UK returned to growth in November after seeing a fall in the previous month. The UK market remains on track for a record result of just over 2.6m units for 2015.
The French economy is also showing signs of improvement, LMC noted, as low inflation boosts real disposable income. French car sales are on the rise, growing 6.1% year-to-date.
“November’s result was pretty encouraging,” said LMC analyst Jonathon Poskitt. “The underlying picture supports further moderate growth for the region’s car market despite the sluggish European economy. With inflationary pressures so low, interest rates look set to stay down for some time and there is certainly more replacement demand out there.”
| Sales (Units) | Selling rate (Units/Year) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2015 | Nov 2014 | Percent change | Year-to-date 2015 | Year-to-date 2014 | Percent change | Nov 2015 | Year-to-date 2015 | Year 2014 | Percent change | |
| WESTERN EUROPE | 1,034,629 | 919,160 | 12.6% | 12,117,982 | 11,181,469 | 8.4% | 13,587,715 | 13,065,912 | 12,103,869 | 7.9% |
| AUSTRIA | 23,644 | 21,619 | 9.4% | 285,986 | 285,927 | 0.0% | 304,392 | 305,902 | 303,318 | 0.9% |
| BELGIUM | 36,329 | 29,739 | 22.2% | 468,325 | 455,949 | 2.7% | 524,767 | 495,970 | 482,939 | 2.7% |
| DENMARK | 16,361 | 15,155 | 8.0% | 188,104 | 173,591 | 8.4% | 202,796 | 205,155 | 189,011 | 8.5% |
| FINLAND | 8,992 | 7,220 | 24.5% | 100,870 | 99,143 | 1.7% | 141,513 | 107,944 | 106,234 | 1.6% |
| FRANCE | 150,339 | 135,097 | 11.3% | 1,732,819 | 1,632,561 | 6.1% | 1,935,483 | 1,910,586 | 1,795,943 | 6.4% |
| GERMANY | 272,377 | 250,100 | 8.9% | 2,958,687 | 2,807,088 | 5.4% | 3,258,467 | 3,218,813 | 3,036,788 | 6.0% |
| GREECE | 4,922 | 4,983 | -1.2% | 68,051 | 64,831 | 5.0% | 67,137 | 71,809 | 71,218 | 0.8% |
| IRELAND | 950 | 771 | 23.2% | 125,078 | 95,887 | 30.4% | 115,405 | 119,754 | 96,237 | 24.4% |
| ITALY | 134,021 | 108,546 | 23.5% | 1,461,633 | 1,268,400 | 15.2% | 1,683,803 | 1,569,491 | 1,359,918 | 15.4% |
| LUXEMBOURG | 3,500 | 3,488 | 0.3% | 43,796 | 46,157 | -5.1% | 52,744 | 46,939 | 49,793 | -5.7% |
| NETHERLANDS | 40,516 | 32,192 | 25.9% | 381,489 | 351,342 | 8.6% | 510,341 | 412,417 | 387,766 | 6.4% |
| NORWAY | 12,600 | 11,486 | 9.7% | 137,608 | 131,553 | 4.6% | 155,964 | 150,897 | 144,202 | 4.6% |
| PORTUGAL | 13,343 | 11,715 | 13.9% | 165,272 | 130,947 | 26.2% | 167,909 | 181,397 | 142,852 | 27.0% |
| SPAIN | 81,650 | 65,134 | 25.4% | 945,583 | 781,962 | 20.9% | 1,107,843 | 1,030,585 | 855,402 | 20.5% |
| SWEDEN | 31,352 | 25,916 | 21.0% | 311,568 | 276,809 | 12.6% | 352,881 | 344,281 | 303,871 | 13.3% |
| SWITZERLAND | 24,858 | 23,672 | 5.0% | 289,688 | 269,085 | 7.7% | 311,404 | 316,297 | 301,942 | 4.8% |
| UK | 178,876 | 172,327 | 3.8% | 2,453,426 | 2,310,237 | 6.2% | 2,694,865 | 2,577,675 | 2,476,435 | 4.1% |
