Sales of passenger vehicles in Eastern and Western Europe decreased 0.3% in January/January 2007 as demand declined in four of the region’s five major markets according to ACEA, the European OEM trade group.
Only Germany posted a sales gain (+10.5%) for the first month in the last 12 months
Sales dropped in France (-6%), Italy (-7%), Spain (-13%) and the U.K. (-2%).
Sales in Eastern Europe jumped 20%, marking the region’s fourth consecutive double-digit monthly increase.
ACEA says demand is growing most quickly in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania.
BMW and Daimler boosted January sales by 13% and 8%, respectively, thanks to strong demand in their home market. The companies got a big boost from sales of their small-car brands.
German automaker Volkswagen AG posted a 13 percent increase in January sales over last year, the company said, delivering 288,000 passenger cars to customers around the world. VW saw sales in China rise nearly 29 percent over January 2007 to 77,400 cars, while sales in Brazil rose more than 20 percent to 39,000 cars.
Nissan (+50%) and Honda (+5%) were the only other major automakers to post significant gains. Losers in January included Toyota (-10.5%), General Motors (-8%), Ford (-3.5%) and PSA Peugeot Citroen (-3%).
