2nd UPDATE: European Car Market Skids In May Despite Incentives
16 Juni 2009 - 10:06AM
Dow Jones News
European new-car registrations last month skidded 4.9%
year-on-year, but Germany's Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) and Italy's Fiat
SpA (F.MI) saw demand rise as scrapping incentives fueled sales of
smaller cars.
New-car registrations in Europe dipped to 1.27 million vehicles
in May, the 13th consecutive month of shrinking demand, despite
successful scrapping initiatives in several major markets that
cushioned the fall, the European Automobile Manufacturers
Association, or ACEA, said Tuesday in a statement.
In the first five months of the year, registrations in Europe
were down 14% compared with the same period last year at 5.96
million vehicles.
Registrations in Western Europe, a key source of earnings for
global automakers, were down 3.2% at 1.2 million in May and slumped
13% on the year in the January-to-May period to 5.6 million
passenger cars.
May counted on average one working day less across the
region.
Volkswagen, Europe's largest automaker by sales, posted a 3.1%
rise on the year to 278,933 new-car registrations, a measure of
sales, thanks mainly to a 9.2% increase at its core VW brand to
152,603 vehicles. Fiat eked out a 2% rise to 116,243 cars in
Europe.
The other major automakers faced contracting sales in Europe in
May.
General Motors Corp.'s (GMGMQ) troubled European division last
month suffered a 10.8% fall on the year to 118,602 new-car
registrations as a 3.9% rise to 17,295 registrations at the
Chevrolet brand failed to offset a 9.6% fall at Opel/Vauxhall to
98,935 cars.
Opel and its British brand, Vauxhall, currently are in talks to
finalize a takeover by Canadian auto supplier Magna International
Inc. (MGA) and its Russian partners OAO Sberbank (SBER.RS) and OAO
GAZ Group (GAZA.RS).
GM's Saab brand, which filed for creditor protection in February
and is reportedly close to being sold to Swedish sports-car maker
Koenigsegg, saw European registrations erode 66% to 2,191 cars last
month.
Ford Motor Co.'s (F) European unit posted a 5% fall on the year
to 125,395 registrations in May as the Swedish Volvo brand suffered
a 20% fall to 15,197 cars. Ford's core brand saw registrations slip
2.4% to 110,198 cars.
French automakers Renault SA (RNO.FR) and PSA Peugeot-Citroen
(12150.FR) performed roughly in line with the overall market.
Renault saw its new-car registrations drop 4.4% to 112,064 cars
while Peugeot's registrations fell 5.9% to 165,167.
Renault's performance benefited from strong demand at its
Romanian low-frills Dacia brand, where European sales last month
doubled year-on-year to 24,894 cars. The core Renault brand
accounted for 87,170 cars, down 17% on the year.
The economic downturn continued to hurt luxury car sales in
Europe last month as the region's scrapping incentives sparked
demand mainly for small and fuel-efficient vehicles rather than
larger, premium cars.
The world's two best-selling luxury automakers, Daimler AG (DAI)
and BMW AG (BMW.XE), saw sales fall 8.9% to 61,714 cars and 14% to
65,490 cars, respectively.
European new-car registrations for Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.TO)
were down 8.9% on the year in May at 59,266 vehicles, with the
Lexus premium brand posting a 48% fall to 1,234 cars.
Company Web site: www.acea.be
-By Christoph Rauwald, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 512;
christoph.rauwald@dowjones.com