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Europe sees 2-speed performance on auto sales

Chemical companies, Consumer demand, Economic growth, Financial Events
By Paul Hodges on 23-Feb-2011

EU autos Feb11.pngThe blog is changing its chart for EU auto sales. The aim is to better show seasonal trends, and also enable easy comparison with US sales.

It now shows sales by month, since 2005. Performance in 2007 (green line) and 2010 (brown) is highlighted, as this represents the peaks and troughs.

January’s 1 million sales (red square) were in line with 2010’s performance. But this disguised a growing 2-speed performance across the region. As ACEA (European Association of Auto Manufacturers) note:

• France was up 8% and Germany 17% versus 2010, but
• UK, Italy, Spain (the other major markets) were down 12%, 21% and 24%
• And Greece, suffering from major austerity measures, saw sales fall 63%.