UPDATE: European Car Market Continues To Shrink; -12% In April
14 Mai 2009 - 1:06PM
Dow Jones News
General Motors Corp.'s (GM) troubled European division Thursday
posted a 13% fall year-on-year in new-car registrations in April,
even as scrapping incentives sparked a 19% rise in Germany,
Europe's largest auto market.
New-car registrations in Europe last month fell 12% on the year
to 1.25 million vehicles, marking the 12th consecutive month of
declining demand, the European Automobile Manufacturers
Association, or ACEA, said Thursday, despite successful scrapping
initiatives in several major markets cushioning 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.
GM Europe, whose core Opel brand is based in Germany, reported
117,921 registrations last month.
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 toward smaller cars.
Fiat's European new-car registrations climbed 4.7% on the year
in April to 121,671 vehicles when almost all other major automakers
saw demand shrink.
Fiat fared significantly better than GM's European Opel/Vauxhall
and Saab brands. Opel/Vauxhall saw sales decline 13% to 98,469 and
Saab suffered a 60% drop to 2,482.
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
a 0.2% decrease to 153,804 cars.
Volkswagen's Czech Skoda brand even eked out a 0.4% rise in
new-car registrations to 46,353 vehicles last month.
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.
Ford's core brand posted a 1.5% decrease last month to 110,002
registrations in Europe, while the Swedish Volvo brand recorded a
31% fall on the year to 15,031 vehicles.
French automakers Renault SA (RNO.FR) and PSA Peugeot-Citroen
(12150.FR) performed roughly in line with the overall market as
new-car registrations were down 14% to 110,148 cars and 15% to
156,726 cars, respectively.
Demand for luxury cars remained depressed as the scrapping
incentives in various European countries triggered demand mainly
for small cars rather than bigger, premium vehicles.
BMW AG (BMW.XE), the world's best-selling premium automaker,
reported 55,633 vehicle registrations in Europe, down 31% on the
year. Daimler AG (DAI) posted 26% sales drop to 60,214 new-car
registrations as consumers shied away from big-ticket purchases
amid recession.
Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) reported a 22% fall year-on-year in
April to 57,774 cars, adding to the Japanese auto giant's woes in
the contracting U.S. market. The company's Lexus premium brand saw
demand deteriorate 43% last month to 1,497 registrations.
Web site: www.acea.be
-By Christoph Rauwald, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 512; christoph.rauwald@dowjones.com
(Allison Connolly contributed to this report.)