No spring break for firms
May 21st, 2010 by Richard Aucock
EUROPEAN car sales fell 6.7 percent in April as scrappage schemes ended across many nations.
Germany’s scrappage scheme ended a while back – Italy’s now has too, meaning both markets have actually started falling.
After its recent success, JATO Dynamics says it is Ford that’s been hit. Sales of the blue oval have not only fallen in Germany, but they’ve also dropped in the UK!
This goes against the trend that’s become familiar over the past year, and is down to a ‘marked drop’ in Ford Fiesta sales in Germany, Italy AND the UK.
Ford is thus now Europe’s 4th-best selling brand, just behind Peugeot. Volkswagen is, needless to say, the biggest seller, but it’s been a very successful month for Renault which is now the Euro 2nd best seller.
Rocketing Clio sales have driven this – in France, for example, they were up 63.7 percent! The Renault Megane also did well in April.
But nothing has unseated the Volkswagen Golf from the top slot of European best-seller.
David Di Girolamo, head of JATO Consult, said: ‘This was inevitable and is a shift in fortune for some of the big markets, now stripped of their government incentives.
‘The effect of this on overall European new car sales is clear and we will progressively see the extent to which European sales have been underpinned by scrappage.
‘Looking at the bigger picture, wider economic uncertainties across the Eurozone will do nothing to stimulate consumer demand in the months ahead and we expect this combination of factors to force a continued slide in overall new car sales.’
Top 10 car makers
1 Volkswagen -7%
2 Renault +17%
3 Peugeot +10%
4 Ford -19%
5 Vauxhall -18%
6 Fiat -28%
7 Citroen -5%
8 Audi -1%
9 BMW +15%
10 Mercedes +3%
Top 10 cars
1 Volkswagen Golf -3%
2 Ford Fiesta -27%
3 Renault Clio +36%
4 Volkswagen Polo -7%
5 Peugeot 207 -17%
6 Vauxhall Astra +16%
7 Vauxhall Corsa -27%
8 Renault Megane +13%
9 Ford Focus -9%
10 Fiat Panda -29%
Tags: eu sales, fiesta, Ford, Golf, jato, scrappage, Volkswagen