Price cuts drive up Euro car sales again
Registrations increased 1.8% in August to 701,118 vehicles from 688,464 a year earlier, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), said yesterday. The growth, the slowest this year, pared sales gains in the eight months through August to 5.8%.
Demand for cars in Europe is reviving from a two-decade low last year.
The VW Polo and Ford’s competing Fiesta helped propel sales jumps last month, exceeding 14% for those brands. Mass-market producers tried to win buyers with discounts that Barclays estimated averaged 20% in Germany and 18% in France.
“A slowdown in year-on-year industry growth during the third quarter is a consequence of a slight market recovery in the second half of 2013,” Allan Rushforth, head of European operations for Hyundai said.
The ACEA compiles figures from the 28 EU countries, excluding Malta, as well as from Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.
The string of gains was the longest since the ACEA began compiling sales figures in 1990. Until now, the most extended period of growth was the 10 months from June 2009 through March 2010.
Among the five largest European car markets, August registrations rose 9.4% in the UK and 14% in Spain. Sales declined in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, as well as in France and Italy. Regionwide, eight-month sales amounted to 8.64m vehicles.
Car sales in July jumped 5.6% to 1.08m vehicles, the ACEA said. Industry executives predict full-year gains of about 3%.
European demand at Ford, the fourth-biggest car seller in the region, jumped 15%. The company raised production of the Fiesta in January to match sales growth.
Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker, sold 9.3% more autos in the region, with the namesake VW brand boosting deliveries 14%, the Czech division Skoda posting a 21% rise and Spain’s Seat reporting a 5% gain.
— Bloomberg
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