Europe In 2009: Avoided The Worst, Saved By Germany And France




Europe avoided the worst of carmageddon. While the U.S.A. was down 21.2 percent in 2009 and China was up 45 percent, Europe as a whole ended 2009 with the same sales as in 2008, more or less. According to data released by ACEA, the European Union survived 2009 with a slight drop of 1.6 percent.

Numbers were dragged down by miserable results in most of the new member states, which show a loss of 26 percent. Only three countries in the east show a plus: The Czech Republic with 12.5 percent, Slovakia up 6.7 percent, and Poland skidding by with 0.1 percent growth. Basket cases of the East are the Baltic States: Latvia down a whopping 80.5 percent, Lithuania down 67.4 percent and Estonia down 66.2 percent for 2009.

The “old” member states in the West actually managed a slight plus of 0.9 percent, driven mainly by Abwrackprämien-powered Germany (+23.2 percent) and similarly generous France (+ 12.5 percent.) Western basked cases are Ireland (-62.1 percent,) followed by Finland (-35.2 percent) and Denmark (-25.3 percent.)

European new car registrations had picked up in the second half of last year, largely due to the impact of fleet renewal schemes in a number of major markets. In June 2009, Europe went into plus territory and steadily grew to a peak of +26.5 percent in November. December sales were a bit more subdued, with a growth of 16.6 percent compared to a very weak December of 2008.

If the EU would be counted as a common market, it would count as the world’s largest car market, with 14.3m sold, narrowly beating China (13.6m.) There is a case for that. The EU has (mostly) common borders, (mostly) one currency, and started as a common market after all. This year, it will be a moot point, as China will have bypassed even whole of Europe.

The complete report can be downloaded here as PDF, for the number crunchers, it is also available as Excel spreadsheet.