The hullaballoo over Europe’s collapsing economy got a reality check Friday as the carmakers’ industry association ACEA said new vehicle sales rose at their strongest pace in six months in September.
The news helped to energize European stock markets into a healthy rebound after another volatile session on Wall Street Thursday. By mid-morning in Europe, the German DAX and French CAC 40 indices were both up 2.0% and London’s FTSE 100 was up 1.2%. But markets are still down after a week of violent sell-offs caused more than anything by fears that the Eurozone will slide back into recession for the third time since 2009.
ACEM said new car registrations were up 6.4% on the year, with “substantial growth prevailing in all major markets”–conspicuously so in Spain, where the reforms implemented after a Eurozone-led bail-out of its banking sector three years ago have visibly improved economic performance.
Sales in Spain were up 26% on the year in September, while those in the U.K. and Germany were up 5.6% and 5.2%, respectively. Even in stagnating France and Italy, sales were up by 6.3% and 3.3%.
It’s been a good year in general for European carmakers, although there have been increasing signs recently of companies having to cut prices to support sales. In the year-to-date, sales are 6.1% ahead of their level at the same time last year. The figures showed the 13th straight increase in sales–the longest unbroken sequence of gains since ACEA started compiling its data over 20 years ago. However, that recovery has taken place from the end of a six-year slump.
But it’s generally been the lower-price segment which has done far better so far this year, with Renault SA’s Romanian-built Dacia posting a 29% rise in sales, and the Volkswagen AG’s lower-segment Skoda and Seat brands up 19% and 13%.
The VW group, by far the continent’s biggest automaker, raised its market share to 25.2% in the first nine months of the year, from 24.8% a year earlier, while Dacia’s success raised Renault’s market share to 9.6% from 8.8%. GM’s fell to 7.4% from 8.1%, while Ford’s edged up to 7.6% from 7.5%.
U.S. automakers have had a mixed year, with Ford Motor Co. just beating the trend with a 7.3% increase, but GM seeing sales fall 3.3%. Although its local Opel and Vauxhall brands have beaten the market, sales of Chevrolet cars have fallen 69%.