EU auto sales remained weak in February, and dependent on just 4 countries. As the chart shows (red line), they followed January in being at the bottom of historical monthly sales. Overall, January and February were down 0.3% versus 2010, with 2 million autos sold: • German sales were up 16% at 435K; France was […]
Chemicals and the Economy
US auto companies lack pricing power
February’s data on US auto sales contained good news, and not such good news, for the chemical industry. • The good news was that sales were relatively strong, as the chart shows (red line), although still below levels seen in the 2005-8 period (black line). • And higher oil prices are supporting sales of more […]
Europe sees 2-speed performance on auto sales
The 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 […]
US, European, auto buyers focus on price
US auto sales disappointed again last month. As the chart shows, January (red square) came in well below the 1.1m level that was normal during the Boom years. And even this 819k sales level required major increases in incentives. GM, of course, was focused on stabilising its stock price after the IPO, so it needed […]
China’s economy ends 2010 at new highs
China’s economy ended 2010 on yet another high. As the chart shows, bank lending (red column) and electricity consumption (blue line), remained very strong: • Electricity usage was up 15% in 2010 versus 2009 • Bank lending was RMB 7.9trn ($1.2trn), above the RMB 7.5trn target The change since the start of the Crisis is […]
China’s December surge makes it largest auto market
December was a good month for global auto sales. China’s volume jumped to 1.3 million, as buyers rushed to capture stimulus discounts before they ended. In Beijing, many ‘brought forward’ planned 2011 purchases, in order to beat the new quota system, which aims to reduce congestion by capping 2011 sales at just 240k versus 891k […]
Unemployment hits US auto sales in 2010
As the chart shows, December’s US auto sales (orange line) were the highest monthly level since August 2009’s ‘cash for clunkers’. But it was only achieved via a massive 7% jump in purchase incentives, which were back at Q2 2009 levels of $2700/vehicle. And 2010 was still the second worst year for sales since 1982, […]
US auto market enters the New Normal
US auto sales have slowed again. We seem certain to end 2010 at the bottom end of last year’s forecasts for demand, which ranged between 11.5m – 12.5m. This seems the main conclusion from analysing November’s sales figures. The blog has developed the new presentation above, showing sales by month since 2005, to assist comparison […]
Western consumers cut back spending
All is clearly not well with the Western consumer. The stimulus programmes have not given them renewed confidence about the future. Instead, they are focused on the prospect of higher taxes and rising unemployment. Two examples make this mood change very clear: • As the above slide shows, EU auto sales are falling off the […]
EU auto sales down 10% in September
EU auto sales were better in September than in either July or August. But ‘better’, of course, is a relative word these days. As the chart shows, they were only down 10% versus 2009 levels, whereas July and August were down 19% and 13% respectively. But in terms of absolute volume, sales at 1.2m were […]
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