By Christiaan Hetzner
FRANKFURT, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Europe’s new car market shrank
at the fastest pace in the past 12 months in September, leaving
nearly all major brands nursing double-digit declines as a
deepening balance sheet recession in the euro zone took its toll
on carmakers.
According to data published on Tuesday by Brussels-based
industry association ACEA, new car registrations in the European
Union dropped 10.8 percent last month to 1.10 million vehicles
with the UK the only major market to post material growth.
German industry group VDA blamed part of the sharp drop on
two fewer working days in September versus the year-earlier
month, saying in a separate statement that an increase in
value-added taxes in Spain acted as an additional drag on
demand.
“The continuing discussion about the debt crisis has also
left its mark on Germany,” auto industry forecaster R.L. Polk &
Co. said in a research note late on Monday, predicting western
European new car sales would drop by 1 million to just 11.76
million vehicles this year.
“Even assuming that the situation in the EU calms down,
western European new car registrations should decline slightly
(to 11.63 million) in 2013,” it added.
Until September, the Volkswagen brand had
largely been able to gain market share at the expense of its
mass market peers. Last month, however, it suffered a decline of
13.8 percent and lost some ground to competitors.
Ford and Opel, Europe’s second and third
largest brand after VW, respectively, fared no better. Their
sales fell by 15 percent and 16 percent.
Renault had a near 33 percent drop in September,
ceding its title as the largest French brand that month to rival
Peugeot. The latter managed to grab share to become
the fourth largest in Europe in September.
Coming in close behind was BMW with 5.8 percent of
the market. The German premium brand even saw an absolute gain
in volumes with a near 11 percent increase in Europe, well ahead
of the pack in September.
Hyundai and Kia continued to slowly
improve sales in a tough market, growing 3-4 percent last month.
Not all Korean-made cars enjoyed a solid September, however.
GM’s Chevrolet brand, which imports the bulk of its models from
the U.S. carmaker’s Korean subsidiary, suffered a 20 percent
drop in volumes.
