European Auto Sales Decline
By CHRISTOPH RAUWALD and HILDE ARENDS
April 16, 2008 - The Wall Street Journal
The following story was also posted online at www.leasetrader.com.
Uncertainty in the global economy helped put a dent in car sales in Europe last month.
New passenger-car registrations on the continent were down 9.5% to 1.65 million vehicles from a year earlier, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, or ACEA, said Tuesday. The figures took a hit from two fewer business days in March this year than last year because of the early Easter holiday.
"In a context of economic uncertainty generated by the U.S. financial crisis, car sales in Western Europe were affected most," Brussels-based ACEA said in its monthly report. Registrations among new European Union member countries, in Central and Eastern Europe, rose 3.5% in March.
Fitch Ratings said Tuesday that auto makers in general are in better financial health than they were during the 1990s, but the downturn in the U.S. market is "an opportune reminder of the auto industry's cyclicality."
Fitch doesn't expect a broad downward revision of car makers' ratings, but it said it will continue to monitor structural issues. Analysts expect the market for new cars in Europe to be flat in 2008, but that will depend on Germany, Europe's biggest car market.
Germany last month saw a drop in new-car registrations of 14% from a year earlier, although the German market showed a recovery in the first quarter, with registrations rising 2.6% in the three months after a weak 2007.
In Western Europe, only the United Kingdom and Portugal saw new-car registrations rise last month -- by 0.5% and 5.2%, respectively. The French market slipped 0.5% in March, while demand in Spain declined 28% due to the scrapping of green incentives, and Italy registered 19% fewer new cars.
"Weak consumer confidence, which stood at its lowest in four years, the pre-elections climate and the overall economic setting contributed to the fall in Italy," the ACEA said.
Bucking the overall downward trend, German premium-car maker BMW AG was the only major European car maker to post a rise in registrations for March. Its registrations were up 2.3%, helped by sales of its Mini brand. Registrations of new Minis jumped 21%.
Europe's biggest auto maker by sales, Volkswagen AG, saw registrations drop 12.5% in March, partly due to a 13% fall in sales of its core VW brand. German premium-auto maker Daimler AG posted only a 1.4% fall, benefiting from rising demand for its small Smart brand.
Italy's biggest auto maker, Fiat SpA, saw registrations fall 12% in March. France's PSA Peugeot Citroën SA posted a 14% decline for March, while rival Renault SA saw new registrations fall 5.5%, though the decline was curbed by a 0.3% rise at its Romanian low-cost Dacia unit.
Detroit auto makers General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. both reported lower registrations for March. GM posted a 12% fall and Ford had an 11% decline. New-car registrations for Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. were down 17%.
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Print | posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 2:46 PM