Car sales in Europe decline 3.9% in March

According to ACEA (European automobile manufacturers association), the sales figure for March 2019 for the European passenger car market saw a 3.9 percent decline on a YoY basis. Although a few EU markets showed signs of slight recovery in the month of February, the month of March turned out to be dismal with Italy posting the highest percentage drop (-9.6%), followed by Spain (-4.3%), the United Kingdom (-3.4%), France (-2.3%) and Germany (-0.5%).

As per the reports, almost every country in the continent have seen decline in sales, except for Lithuania (43%), Latvia (15.4%), Romania (20.8%), Hungary (5.0%), Luxembourg (4.5%), Slovakia (7.9%) and Denmark (33.2%). Going by the first quarter of 2019, Lithuania saw a gain of 58.2 percent, followed by Romania (25.1%) and Denmark (16.4%).

Manufacturer-wise FCA Group’s Alfa Romeo brand saw the biggest YoY slide of 45.5 percent in the month of March 2019 but at the same time its Lancia/Chrysler saw one of the biggest gains in the EU market with 15.3 percent. FCA Group’s Dodge and Maserati saw a cumulative sale of 467 units that amounted to the highest slump (-52%) in the EU market for March 2019. The biggest gainer was Renault Group’s Dacia brand with 22.2 percent. Volkswagen’s Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini cumulatively sold 631 units in the month which turned out to be a growth of 23 percent. Going by the first quarter results of 2019, Lancia/Chrysler registered the highest growth with 34.9 percent followed only by the cumulative sales of Volkswagen’s luxury and sports brands Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini (22.4%). In the same time period, at the losers end, FCA group’s Alfa Romeo sales fell by 41.8 percent, followed by VW’s Porsche (-36.3%).

Some of the other significant gainers in March 2019 include Mitsubishi (15.8%),Jaguar Land Rover group’s Jaguar (8.7%), VW group’s Seat (4.8%), FCA group’s Jeep (3.6%), Volvo cars (3.6%) and BMW’s Mini (3.5%).

Table source: ACEA