VDA: Chinese and US markets show double-digit growth

International passenger car markets – Western Europe still expanding in October

In October the large automotive markets in the US and China both showed double-digit growth. New passenger car registrations increased in Western Europe too, albeit less rapidly. By contrast, Russia and Brazil are continuing to contract.

In Western Europe, new passenger car registrations rose by a good 2 percent in October to reach around 1.1 million. Here it should be remembered that this October had one working day less than the same month last year. Demand for passenger cars climbed by nearly 9 percent in Italy, and by a good 5 percent in Spain. In both Germany and France the market volume increased by 1 percent in October. The British passenger car market, which has been growing continuously for the past three and a half years and is currently at a high level, recorded its first slight fall (-1 percent) last month.

Expansion was keen on the smaller markets in Western Europe: October car sales achieved double-figure growth in Ireland (+27 percent), Portugal (+16 percent), Sweden (+12 percent) and the Netherlands (+11 percent). The cumulative total on the Western European market for the first ten months of the current year rose by 8 percent to 11.1 million new vehicles.

In the new EU Member States, new registrations of passenger cars increased by 6 percent in October to 87,300 new vehicles. Since January a total of 828,200 cars have been newly registered there (+10 percent).

The US market for light vehicles (passenger cars and light trucks) once again showed double-digit expansion (+14 percent) in October, with a figure of just over 1.45 million units. This was the highest October result since 2001, whereby last month had one more trading day than October 2014. Sales of light trucks rose by almost 22 percent to 845,200 units, while the growth in passenger cars came to 4 percent, taking the figure to 601,300 units. During the first ten months of this year, total US light vehicle sales by increased by nearly 6 percent to 14.4 million units. Car sales in fact show a slender fall of 1 percent (6.4 million new cars), but the light truck market has gained 12 percent (8.1 million units).

The Chinese passenger car market recorded double-digit growth (+15 percent) in October, climbing to roughly 1.9 million units. The expansion was driven principally by sales of new cars with smaller engines (up to 1.6 liters), boosted by tax breaks on them introduced at the beginning of October. Since January almost 15.6 million new vehicles have been sold. This means that the Chinese market has added nearly 6 percent compared with the same period in 2014.

In Japan, new registrations of passenger cars lost 4 percent in October, falling to 315,200 units. This year so far, the market volume has contracted by a little more than 10 percent to a figure of nearly 3.6 million new cars.

October passenger car sales in India showed double figure year-on-year growth and reached a volume of 268,600 units (+21 percent). During the first ten months of 2015 the Indian car market also expanded in comparison with last year: sales of new cars climbed by a good 7 percent to 2.3 million units.

In contrast, the Russian light vehicle market is still in free fall. October’s new car sales plummeted by nearly 39 percent to 130,000 units. Since the beginning of this year the Russian market has lost over one third (-34 percent) and its total year-to-date sales only just exceed 1.3 million light vehicles.

In Brazil, too, the volume of new light vehicle registrations contracted strongly. In the month just ended, a total of 185,500 units were newly registered, which is over 36 percent less than in October last year. The year-to-date total, of nearly 2.1 million vehicles, is 23 percent down on the previous year’s result for the same period.

New Passenger Car Registrations/Sales