JATO: Europe’s ‘big 5’ perform well
According to JATO Dynamics Ltd registrations in Europe’s ‘Big 5’ markets performed well in September, with 1,171,795 units registered, which is a 6.2% rise on the same month last year.
For the year to date, registrations totalled 8.51 million units, an increase of 7.4%, SAAR figures came in at 11.61 million units, the highest figure recorded so far in 2016.
JATO claims the European automotive industry was in a positive mood after the five biggest economies, all recorded positive growth in September. Italy and Spain continued to lead the way, registering increases of 17.4% and 13.4%, respectively, when compared with the same period last year. France’s modest two per cent increase on last year was due to increased sales of demo models which were up by a significant 20.5%, with private registrations falling by 4.6%. The UK and Germany complete the top five, posting increases of 1.6% and 9.4%, respectively, on the same period last year.
Volkswagen Group led the market, maintaining its position as Europe’s largest car manufacturer by registering 256,000 units in September, a 3.3% increase on the same period last year. However, the car maker lost marketshare, going from 22.5% in September 2015 to 21.9% in September 2016. However, PSA experienced the highest marketshare decline in September, falling from 10.1% to 9.0%. Meanwhile, Daimler achieved the biggest marketshare gain at 0.73 points, going from 6.4% in September 2015 to 7.2% in the same month this year.
The performance of BMW Group is notable due to the 19.4% increase in registrations posted by Mini and the 52% increase in SUV registrations from the BMW brand. FCA registered 80,100 new vehicles, which is a 14.8% increase in registrations, as a result of the double-digit growth of all of its brands.
Felipe Munoz, JATO’s global industry analyst, commented, ‘The automotive industry is continuing to perform well despite the challenges in the UK market and the significant fall in private registrations in the French market. Even with these challenges, the European registrations are on course for growth as we head towards the end of 2016.’
The continued success of SUVs boosted the automotive market in September, with the segment representing 27.1% of marketshare. The growth in the marketshare of the SUV segment was at the expense of the more traditional vehicles, with the City Car and MPV segments both suffering declines of 5.8% and 3.6% respectively. Similarly, other traditional segments posted only modest growth with the Compact segment (C-segment) posting a 2.4% increase on the same period last year and the Subcompact segment (B-segment) growing by only 0.1% compared to last year.
Although the Volkswagen Golf again topped the model table, it faced stiff competition, with the Ford Fiesta only 5,559 units behind. The distance between the Golf and the rest of the model ranking has not been this close since March 2015.
