European car sales crash

Renault saw its sales fall 23.7 per cent in February

Car sales across Europe have fallen nearly 10 per cent in the economic gloom, with Renault, Peugeot Citroen, Fiat and Opel the big losers.

There’s been a big decline in new car sales across Europe in February, with monthly sales down almost ten per cent compared to 2011, and it’s the mainstream car makers who are suffering the most.

Sales for Renault are down by a massive 23.7 per cent to 86,402, Peugeot Citroen did almost as badly with a drop of 16.5 per cent to 118,381 and Fiat suffered the same percentage drop with sales of 66,249 (Alfa Romeo sales actually fell by 28.5 per cent).

It’s a further sign that the over capacity in Europe and the whole Eurozone crisis is playing havoc with the car industry across Europe, in particular for mainstream makers. GM Europe – Opel and Vauxall – which recently tried to plug a hole by tying up with PSA also saw a drop of 20.3 per cent.

As far as sales by country goes, it was France and Italy which saw the big drops, no surprise really considering the financial problems they have, with France reporting sales down 20 per cent and Italy 19 per cent.

Germany – whose economy is the biggest and strongest in Europe – saw no sales decline and VW bucked the trend by posting sales figures in Europe down by just 2.1 per cent.

As we said when we reported the collaboration between GM and PSA, perhaps the time has come to accept that car buyers no longer want mainstream cars and are looking for either budget or premium offerings? The problem with that is the political implications of closing vast tracts of production capacity in Europe.

But the fact that sales at the likes of BMW, Audi and Mercedes held up well – and Jaguar Land Rover improved hugely – shows what buyers want. And at the other end of the scale Hyundai and Kia did well with sales up too.

The car landscape has changed, but does anyone have the balls to fix it?

Feb_12

Feb_11

% change Feb

Feb YtD_12

Feb YtD_11

% change YtD

24,005

26,412

-9.1%

50,831

51,996

-2.2%

43,716

53,135

-17.7%

88,448

106,371

-16.8%

3,552

3,340

+6.3%

7,049

6,657

+5.9%

1,130

1,185

-4.6%

2,283

2,458

-7.1%

13,544

12,847

+5.4%

26,465

24,525

+7.9%

11,179

11,577

-3.4%

24,047

23,954

+0.4%

1,303

936

+39.2%

2,974

2,259

+31.7%

10,611

9,298

+14.1%

24,843

23,084

+7.6%

163,010

204,400

-20.2%

310,067

389,921

-20.5%

224,318

224,426

-0.0%

434,513

435,482

-0.2%

61,868

63,424

-2.5%

190,721

192,235

-0.8%

3,816

6,991

-45.4%

12,221

16,727

-26.9%

4,300

3,567

+20.5%

9,280

7,013

+32.3%

323

130

+148.5%

643

327

+96.6%

11,489

12,570

-8.6%

32,802

33,569

-2.3%

131,427

162,056

-18.9%

269,483

328,131

-17.9%

727

765

-5.0%

1,609

1,497

+7.5%

863

925

-6.7%

1,871

1,771

+5.6%

4,543

4,410

+3.0%

8,192

7,763

+5.5%

10,972

10,585

+3.7%

21,832

20,985

+4.0%

23,826

21,508

+10.8%

48,024

40,465

+18.7%

6,930

13,437

-48.4%

13,879

26,662

-47.9%

5,182

4,233

+22.4%

8,657

8,632

+0.3%

1,495

2,035

-26.5%

2,904

3,454

-15.9%

5,374

4,810

+11.7%

10,176

9,234

+10.2%

4,128

5,317

-22.4%

9,139

10,744

-14.9%

64,678

66,250

-2.4%

119,644

120,055

-0.3%

20,735

20,993

-1.2%

39,421

40,237

-2.0%

22,816

22,449

+1.6%

46,037

43,000

+7.1%

44,127

49,016

-10.0%

114,543

123,798

-7.5%

925,987

1,023,027

-9.5%

1,932,598

2,103,006

-8.1%

* denotes estimated or provisional data used for February 2012

Feb_12

Feb_11

% change Feb

Feb YtD_12

Feb YtD_11

% change YtD

118,938

120,883

-1.6%

248,182

249,868

-0.7%

69,036

74,982

-7.9%

152,967

162,108

-5.6%

68,918

94,727

-27.2%

132,878

184,122

-27.8%

61,233

77,069

-20.5%

128,865

156,668

-17.7%

58,969

73,085

-19.3%

116,796

145,981

-20.0%

56,995

64,941

-12.2%

114,152

130,700

-12.7%

46,475

57,464

-19.1%

95,362

117,193

-18.6%

45,157

46,521

-2.9%

96,572

94,584

+2.1%

40,348

37,151

+8.6%

84,541

77,921

+8.5%

39,961

41,211

-3.0%

83,609

87,724

-4.7%

Feb_12

Feb_11

% change Feb

Feb YtD_12

Feb YtD_11

% change YtD

32,724

34,154

-4.2%

69,587

71,117

-2.2%

24,254

25,756

-5.8%

50,295

54,935

-8.4%

19,681

16,392

+20.1%

41,949

37,186

+12.8%

19,588

24,245

-19.2%

43,516

51,611

-15.7%

19,048

27,499

-30.7%

37,550

53,445

-29.7%

18,986

21,693

-12.5%

34,622

44,694

-22.5%

16,622

16,549

+0.4%

34,317

31,887

+7.6%

15,951

21,419

-25.5%

34,196

42,445

-19.4%

15,879

21,692

-26.8%

33,051

42,623

-22.5%

15,785

16,209

-2.6%

30,934

32,705

-5.4%

Sales Figures supplied by Jato

By Cars UK