European Car Market Continues To Shrink; -12% On Year In April
14 Mai 2009 - 8:43AM
Dow Jones News
General Motors Corp.'s (GM) troubled European division Thursday
posted a 13% fall on the year to 117,921 new-car registrations in
April, despite the scrapping incentive scheme on the German home
turf of its core Opel brand, which triggered a 19% year-on-year
rise on Europe's largest auto market.
New-car registrations in Europe were down 12% on the year in
April at a total of 1.25 million vehicles, marking the twelfth
consecutive month of declining demand, the European Automobile
Manufacturers Association, or ACEA, said Thursday, even though
successful scrapping schemes in several major markets cushioned the
fall.
Across the region, April counted on average one less working day
compared with the same period a year ago.
"Four months into 2009, the market decrease amounts to 15.9%,"
ACEA said in a statement.
Italian automaker Fiat Spa (F.MI), whose Chief Executive Sergio
Marchionne is currently pushing to forge an alliance comprising
Fiat's auto unit, GM's European and Latin American operations and
Chrysler LLC, was the biggest beneficiary last month from scrapping
incentives and a broader trend towards smaller cars.
Fiat's European new-car registrations were up 4.7% on the year
in April at 121,671 vehicles when almost all other major automakers
faced shrinking demand.
Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE), Europe's largest automaker by sales, saw
registrations fall 4.2% on the year in April to 284,607 cars, with
its core VW brand achieving an almost flat result year-on-year with
an 0.2% decrease to 153,804 cars.
Ford Motor Co.'s (F) European division fared better than the
overall market last month with a 6.3% decline year-on-year to
125,033 new car registrations.
French automakers Renault (RNO.FR) and PSA Peugeot-Citroen
performed roughly in line with the overall market development as
new-car registrations were down 14% to 110,148 cars and 15% to
156,726 cars, respectively.
Demand for luxury cars remained depressed in April. BMW AG
(BMW.XE), the world's best-selling premium automaker, saw
registrations come in at 55,633 vehicles in Europe, down 31% on the
year. German peer Daimler AG (DAI) faced a 26% sales drop to 60,214
new-car registrations as consumer shied away from big-ticket
purchases due to weak consumer confidence amid recession.
Web site: www.acea.be
(Allison Connolly contributed to this report.)
-By Christoph Rauwald, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 512;
christoph.rauwald@dowjones.com