Car sales in Western Europe grew by a healthy 9.5% in January, boosted by an extra selling day in most markets.
The data from LMC Automotive showed that the European car market is off to a strong start in 2017, with an annual selling rate of 14.7m units a year – the highest selling rate since early 2008.
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However, LMC cautioned that the European outlook is characterised by considerable political and economic “uncertainty”, with elections this year taking place in France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Nevertheless, consumer confidence is ‘holding up well’, the analysts say.
The January market numbers were positive in all of the large national markets.
Car sales in Germany were up 10.5% year-on-year in January, an annual selling rate of 3.57m units a year, the highest it has been since the scrappage incentive-inflated results of 2009. The French market also achieved double-digit YoY growth in the opening month of 2017.
The Italian market continued on its recovery path, with 10.1% YoY growth, taking the selling rate to a level not seen since early 2010. Spanish registrations were also up strongly (+10.7%).
Both are expected to be major contributors to the region’s growth this year, LMC said.
The UK market grew 2.9% in January, with a strong result from the private side of the market; this resulted in a selling rate of over 2.7m units a year. However, the UK car market is forecast to fall in 2017.
LMC analyst Jonathon Poskitt told just-auto that underlying economic conditions across the region remain positive.
“The eurozone continues to benefit from unemployment rates easing, although inflation will erode household spending power to a degree,” he said. “We continue to forecast growth in West European new car sales this year but it is important to acknowledge the risks and uncertainties ahead. The German car market is likely to slow and the UK car market is forecast to fall back from current record levels. Inflationary pressures are picking up in some places – albeit from very low levels. And there is a risk that political developments this year dent consumer confidence to curb economic growth.”
