Following a marked decline in the second half of 2008 and the first half of 2009, European new car registrations picked up in July-December last year, largely due to the impact of fleet renewal schemes in a number of major markets, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) has reported on Friday. The upturn may also be attributed to the dramatic car sales numbers in the base period when the crisis turned really nasty in the last months of 2008.
Wreck premium to the rescue in Europe
Thanks to the impact of fleet renewal schemes in a number of major markets, new car registrations picked up in H2 2009. In total, more than 14.48 million new cars were registered last year, down 1.6% year on year and 9.5% less than in 2007.
In December 2009, demand for new cars rose by 16.0%, amounting to 1,074,438 units compared to the same month in 2008, ACEA statistics show.
In Western Europe, new car registrations were up 19.3% in December, reaching 1,003,757 units. Markets in Switzerland (-4.4%), Germany (-4.6%), Finland (-8.1%) and Portugal (-17.9%) declined compared to last year, while registrations increased by 16.7% in Italy, 25.1% in Spain, 38.9 in the UK and 48.6% in France. The West European market ended the whole year 2009 on levels similar to 2008 (+0.5%) and down 7.9% compared to 2007.
In 2009, only Austria (+8.8%), France (+10.7%) and Germany (+23.2%) posted growth compared to 2008, with results lifted by scrapping incentives. Results were cushioned for similar reasons in Italy (-0.2%), the UK (-6.4%) and Spain (-17.9%). In total, 13,632,918 new cars were registered in the region.
In the new EU member states, December results were positive for only the Czech Republic (+43.8%) and Slovenia (+12.4%). Elsewhere, the downturn prevailed, ranging from -3.9% in Poland to -79.3% in Latvia and resulting in an overall 16.5% decrease in the region.
In the whole of the year, only the Czech Republic (+12.5%) and Slovakia (+6.7%) recorded a significant increase. The region as a whole faced a 26.6% downturn with 848,627 new cars registered, compared to 1,156,169 units in 2008.
Hungarian market halved
New car registrations in Hungary continued to wane and were down 46% yr/yr in December. However, this marks an improvement after 60-70% drops in previous months.
In whole of 2009, a total of 78,590 new cars were registered on the Hungarian market, which corresponds to a decline of 50.4% in annual terms, ACEA data showed.
Volkswagen remains market leader in Europe
Among the major European manufacturers, Renault Group boosted sales by the most (52.3%) in December 2009. Of the Asian producers, Nissan nearly doubled its sales last year from 2008 (+96.3%), while Toyota upped sales by 9.9% and Suzuki, which was the top seller in Hungary, increased sales by 24% yr/yr.
Regarding 2009, Volkswagen remained market leader, boosting its share to 21.1% from 20.7%, with Peugeot-Citroen on its tail, followed by Ford in the third place.
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