VDA: Western European auto sales increase across a broad front in September

The Western European automobile market continued to exhibit dynamic growth in September, with the number of new passenger car registrations  rising by nearly 10 percent. The US market for light vehicles (cars and light trucks) experienced a 16-percent increase in September thanks to Labor Day promotions. Last month also saw China’s auto sales increase again for the first time in three months (+6 percent).

New passenger car registrations in Western Europe increased to a good 1.3 million vehicles in September. All of the five major markets were able to achieve substantial increases: in Italy (+17 percent) and Spain (+22 percent), demand for passenger cars rose significantly in the double-digit range. In Great Britain, the number of new registrations was up by just under 9 percent and in France by just over 9 percent. New car registrations in Germany increased by about 5 percent.

Demand in Europe’s smaller countries was also strong with double-digit growth in Portugal (+30 percent), Denmark (+24 percent), Ireland (+22 percent), the Netherlands (+18 percent), Sweden (+13 percent) and Switzerland (+10 percent).

Thus, in the first nine months, the total volume of new passenger cars sold on the Western European market came to a good 10 million units (+9 percent).

In the new EU countries, new passenger car registrations went up by 13 percent to 77,300 new vehicles in September. Double-digit growth was also achieved in Cyprus (+44 percent), Latvia (+21 percent), Lithuania (+20 percent), Bulgaria (+19 percent), Poland (+16 percent), the Czech Republic and Hungary (both at +14 percent) and Slovakia (+11 percent). In the first three quarters of 2015, some 735,700 new passenger cars were registered in the new EU countries (+10 percent).

With a good 1.4 million new vehicles, light vehicle sales (cars and light trucks) in the USA achieved double-digit growth in September (+16 percent). These are the highest figures for September in 15 years. A key factor driving this substantial increase was the Labor Day Weekend at the start of the month. In the first nine months, US light vehicle sales climbed overall by good 5 percent to nearly 13 million units.

In China, new car sales of around 1.7 million units last month exceeded the previous year’s level by almost 6 percent. In the first nine months of 2015, China’s passenger car market rose by nearly 5 percent to a good 13.7 vehicles.

In Japan, the number of new car registrations fell in September by a good 7 percent to about 400,000 units. Through to September, the market volume of just under 3.3 million new vehicles was roughly 11 percent below the previous year’s figure.

India’s new car sales increased by almost 4 percent, reaching a total of 232,200 units in the past month. At the end of the first three quarters, the Indian passenger car market was almost 6 percent above the previous year’s level and posted sales of a good 2 million new vehicles in the period from January to September 2015.

The Russian light vehicle market again had to contend with a significant slump: with 140,900 units, new car sales were down by almost 29 percent in comparison with last year. Year-to-date sales of light vehicles in Russia have fallen by one third, totalling around 1.2 million vehicles in the first nine months.

In Brazil the light vehicle market continued its downward trend in September, falling by almost 32 percent. New passenger car registrations totalled 192,800. At 1.9 million vehicles, the volume of new car registrations in the period from January to September was nearly 22 percent below the previous year’s figure.