W. Europe Car Sales down by 4 Percent in May

05 June, 2009 04:54:00

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West European car sales were down by just 4.2 percent in May as the effectiveness of scrapping incentives continued to rise, according to data released by JD Power Automotive Forecasting.

In seasonally adjusted annualized terms, the market has now almost recovered to a level consistent with the market of May 2008, since there was one fewer selling day in May of 2009.

This is significant in that the sharp deterioration in the West European car market only started from June last year. The dose of energizing incentive medicine is therefore having the desired effect, at least for makers of smaller vehicles — the segments which are gaining most ground as a result of the incentives.

New car registrations in Germany jumped 40% year-on-year in May to approximately 390,000 units, following an 19.4% increase in April, to nearly 380,000 units.

In France new-car sales rose by 11.9 percent in May, to 206,387 units, compared with the same month last year.

Spanish car sales fell for the 13th consecutive month in May, but the 38 percent drop was slightly lower than that seen in previous months.

The effect of scrapping incentives appears to be waning in Italy, where new-car sales dropped 8.6 percent in May, to 188,670 units. Through five months, Italian sales are down 14.7 percent to 918,018.

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