Volkswagen, BMW Post 2011 European Gains as Region’s Sales Drop
Fiat, Peugeot Lead European Car-Sales Drop as Economy Slows
Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg
The Fiat SpA logo sits on the hood of a Panda automobile during manufacture at the company's Pomigliano factory near Naples, Italy, on Dec. 14, 2011.
The Fiat SpA logo sits on the hood of a Panda automobile during manufacture at the company's Pomigliano factory near Naples, Italy, on Dec. 14, 2011. Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Fiat SpA, PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault SA led a fourth consecutive year of car sales declines across Europe as consumer confidence fell and unemployment remained at record levels. Chad Thomas reports on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move" with Mark Barton. (Source: Bloomberg)
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Christoph Stuermer, an automotive analyst at IHS Global Insight, talks about the outlook for consolidation in the auto industry. He speaks from Frankfurt with Owen Thomas on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown." (Source: Bloomberg)
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne
Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg
Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of Turin, Italy-based Fiat, said earlier this month that the European auto market may be flat until 2014, with Italian sales likely to reach their lowest level since 1985 this year at less than 1.7 million vehicles.
Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of Turin, Italy-based Fiat, said earlier this month that the European auto market may be flat until 2014, with Italian sales likely to reach their lowest level since 1985 this year at less than 1.7 million vehicles. Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg
Fiat Leads 2011 Europe Car-Sales Drop on Slow Economy
Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg
An employee inspects the bodywork of a Fiat SpA Panda automobile as it travels along the production line at the company's Pomigliano factory near Naples. Fiat SpA, PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault SA led a fourth consecutive year of car sales declines across Europe as consumer confidence fell and unemployment remained at record levels.
An employee inspects the bodywork of a Fiat SpA Panda automobile as it travels along the production line at the company's Pomigliano factory near Naples. Fiat SpA, PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault SA led a fourth consecutive year of car sales declines across Europe as consumer confidence fell and unemployment remained at record levels. Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg
Volkswagen AG (VOW3), Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) and Daimler AG (DAI) posted 2011 sales gains in Europe even as the auto industry as a whole contracted in the region.
The three carmakers were helped by an 8.8 percent advance last year in their German home market, which accounts for almost 25 percent of Europe’s car sales, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA, said today in a statement. Germany was alone among the region’s top five markets in posting an increase in 2011.
The German carmakers can continue to outperform their European competitors this year, with BMW in particular benefiting from the launch of its new 3-Series model, said Christoph Stuermer, an IHS Automotive analyst in Frankfurt.
Germany’s unemployment rate fell every month last year, reaching 6.8 percent in December. Consumer confidence gained slightly last month, while remaining below a June high.
European sales at Volkswagen (VOW), the region’s biggest carmaker, rose 7.8 percent in 2011. Wolfsburg, Germany-based VW, which also owns the Audi, Skoda and Seat brands, has introduced a new version of the Passat midsized car and a revamped Audi A6 sedan in the past year.
BMW (BMW), which also makes Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles, increased European sales 7.7 percent last year, pushing it to record global deliveries. Daimler, which owns the Mercedes-Benz and Smart brands, lifted sales in the region 0.4 percent in 2011, helped by an 8.3 percent surge in December, the ACEA said.
Shares Advance
Daimler advanced as much as 1.70 euros, or 4.3 percent, to 41.05 euros and was up 3.5 percent as of 2:15 p.m. in Frankfurt trading. Volkswagen traded 3.1 percent higher at 132.85 euros, which BMW was up 3.2 percent to 61.87 euros.
Registrations across the region as a whole fell 1.4 percent last year to 13.6 million vehicles, propelled by a 5.8 percent drop in December. Spain and Italy, Europe’s fourth- and fifth- biggest car markets, led annual declines at 18 percent and 11 percent respectively. Deliveries in the U.K. and France also declined, tumbling 4.4 percent and 2.1 percent each.
European sales at Paris-based PSA Peugeot Citroen, the region’s second-biggest carmaker, dropped 8.8 percent last year, while registrations at Renault fell 8.1 percent. The manufacturer, based in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, said separately today that its global deliveries increased 3.6 percent as demand in emerging markets compensated for the drop in Europe. Fiat SpA (F), based in Turin, Italy, posted a 12 percent drop in the region for 2011.
Economic Pressure
Peugeot and Renault will have another tough year in 2012 as their “core market in western Europe is under significant economic pressure,” Stuermer said in an interview in Frankfurt. “It would be unfair to expect them to swing their sales around when their core market has gone.”
The ACEA compiles figures from European Union member countries plus Switzerland, Norway and Iceland. Western European car sales, which don’t include figures from the nations that have joined the EU since 2004, fell 1.3 percent to 12.8 million vehicles in 2011.
The end of a property and construction boom, fueled by a speculative bubble and low interest rates during the previous decade, has caused Spain’s unemployment rate to more than double to 23 percent. The country’s underlying inflation rate slowed in December as the economy edged closer to a second recession in two years.
Spain’s car market, which peaked in 2007 at 1.61 million vehicles, probably won’t top that figure in this decade, according to Jonathon Poskitt, an Oxford, England-based analyst at LMC Automotive.
Declining Market
LMC Automotive estimates industrywide car sales in western Europe will fall to 12.1 million vehicles in 2012. The drop in Europe will be offset by gains in China and the U.S., the world’s two biggest auto markets, analysts forecast.
“This morning’s figures were no big surprise, and there is great hope for China and the U.S. that revenues there can grow,” said Frank Schwope, a Hanover, Germany-based Norddeutsche Landesbank analyst. “China is still some 600 million vehicles short, which is a massive figure, so there is still huge potential there.”
GM, whose main brands in Europe are Opel and Vauxhall, posted a 1.9 percent decline, extended by a 15 percent slide in December. The Detroit-based carmaker said in November that its global sales would be similar to last year’s, with weakness in Europe dragging down the company’s earnings. Ford Motor Co. (F)’s registrations fell 2.9 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Webb in Frankfurt at awebb25@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net
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