Western Europe’s car market up 6.6% in September
Oct 11, 2016
Car sales in Western Europe grew by 6.6% in September according to data released by LMC Automotive.
LMC said the annualised selling rate for last month stood at 14.5 units a year, the best result so far in 2016. All major markets were up to some degree, with Italy and Spain once again managing double-digit percentage growth
Car sales in Germany in September were up 9.4% year-on-year (YoY). For the first nine months of the year the market was up 6.1%. LMC said the largest market in the region continues to strengthen, with the full-year total on course to near 3.4m units in 2016.
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Europe’s car market is back where it should be, so growth prospects look to be slowing |
The Spanish car market maintained strong growth in September, up circa 14% YoY, with little clear negative impact, yet, from the end of the PIVE scheme in July. In Italy, car sales were up over 17% YoY, and in France, they were up 2.5% YoY.
So far, the UK market appears unaffected by the Brexit vote, with registrations shaping up for a record year (possibly reaching 2.7m units) in 2016; the September result was 1.6% on last year.
However, the ongoing weakness of the pound, and assumed economic slowdown over the next few years means that LMC is assuming a market downturn over the latter part of the decade. This UK downturn will, to an extent, slow growth at the wider West European regional level though ongoing growth in markets like Italy and Spain "should see the region overall in positive growth territory in 2017", LMC said.
LMC forecasts that the West European car market will turn out close to 14m units this year (representing growth of around 6%). Next year it forecasts growth of around 1.5% to leave the market at a little under 14.2m units.
| Sales (units) | Selling rate (units/year) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep-16 | Sep-15 | Percent change | Year-to-date 2016 | Year-to-date 2015 | Percent change | Sep-16 | Year-to-date 2016 | Year 2015 | Percent change | |
| WESTERN EUROPE | 1403226 | 1316612 | 6.6% | 10736780 | 10029430 | 7.1% | 14472911 | 13947397 | 13184741 | 5.8% |
| AUSTRIA | 29900 | 25966 | 15.2% | 252836 | 237193 | 6.6% | 356339 | 325269 | 308555 | 5.4% |
| BELGIUM | 41748 | 36725 | 13.7% | 424383 | 392522 | 8.1% | 563424 | 539187 | 501066 | 7.6% |
| DENMARK | 18477 | 17829 | 3.6% | 168453 | 154884 | 8.8% | 227746 | 220537 | 207398 | 6.3% |
| FINLAND | 9644 | 8515 | 13.3% | 92614 | 82730 | 11.9% | 120235 | 120296 | 108812 | 10.6% |
| FRANCE | 168827 | 164769 | 2.5% | 1500864 | 1421435 | 5.6% | 2099434 | 2007081 | 1916652 | 4.7% |
| GERMANY | 298002 | 272479 | 9.4% | 2556026 | 2407938 | 6.1% | 3493817 | 3393621 | 3206042 | 5.9% |
| GREECE | 5832 | 5125 | 13.8% | 64453 | 58184 | 10.8% | 84035 | 82069 | 75805 | 8.3% |
| IRELAND | 4698 | 4766 | -1.4% | 143542 | 121097 | 18.5% | 132545 | 139968 | 124946 | 12.0% |
| ITALY | 153617 | 130820 | 17.4% | 1405424 | 1197273 | 17.4% | 1827706 | 1823200 | 1574320 | 15.8% |
| LUXEMBOURG | 3393 | 3376 | 0.5% | 39208 | 36027 | 8.8% | 48699 | 50353 | 46473 | 8.3% |
| NETHERLANDS | 33545 | 35032 | -4.2% | 285899 | 300985 | -5.0% | 450775 | 382491 | 448927 | -14.8% |
| NORWAY | 13854 | 12421 | 11.5% | 115875 | 111811 | 3.6% | 165583 | 154989 | 150686 | 2.9% |
| PORTUGAL | 13965 | 12631 | 10.6% | 158844 | 138294 | 14.9% | 211196 | 207839 | 178475 | 16.5% |
| SPAIN | 79591 | 69852 | 13.9% | 874285 | 783925 | 11.5% | 1273810 | 1139419 | 1034245 | 10.2% |
| SWEDEN | 32292 | 29653 | 8.9% | 271396 | 248653 | 9.1% | 375187 | 372114 | 345053 | 7.8% |
| SWITZERLAND | 26145 | 24136 | 8.3% | 232183 | 239593 | -3.1% | 354891 | 317680 | 323783 | -1.9% |
| UK | 469696 | 462517 | 1.6% | 2150495 | 2096886 | 2.6% | 2687489 | 2671284 | 2633503 | 1.4% |
Source: just auto