Volkswagen stays top in European sales

2008 Volkswagen Golf Blue Motion

After strong sales at the start of the year, European results for June continued the recent slowdown with a year on year drop of 8.2% to 1,389,418 units, according to Jato Dynamics.

The UK-based analysts said the slowing market in recent months has begun to hit the year-to-date total, now down 2.3% to 8,196,762 units despite healthy growth in the first quarter.



"The dip in sales has accelerated in June compared with May and continues the recent downward trend in the market over the past few months. However, the world's leading manufacturers are mitigating the impact of the credit crunch and rising oil prices through continued product innovation, new and exciting models and major advances in fuel economy," said Jato spokesman Nasir Shah.

Volkswagen stayed topped European sales in both June and the first half, followed by General_Motors Europe's Opel/Vauxhall, Renault, Ford and Peugeot in June. Ford took the half-year second place ahead of Opel/Vauxhall, Renault and Peugeot.

New models helped BMW to 6.1% growth in H1 sales and Fiat also did well (+2.7%) thanks to new 500 and Bravo lines. Mercedes sales were flat.

Outside the top 10, Jaguar (up 22.5%), Dacia (up 9.8%) and Mini (up 5.7%) all posted gains in June. Daihatsu (+11.9%) saw sales surge as a result of the fuel efficient, low CO2 Cuore/Charade and Sirion.

Model wise, VW's Golf remained Europe's top-selling new car in June with 45,178 units (+12.6%) ahead of the Peugeot 207 (39,450), followed by Renault Clio (37,273, +3.4%), Opel/Vauxhall Corsa (35,985), Ford Focus (35,024), Opel/Vauxhall Astra (33,169), Ford Fiesta (29,666), BMW 3-series (26,848), Fiat Punto (26,520) and Volkswagen Polo (25,564).

The Golf (+17.6%) and 207 (+2.2%) also headed the first half model chart. The Golf's performance is impressive given it first arrived in 2005 and has been little changed since, save for some trim/equipment tweaks and some new engines and transmissions.

Germany remained the largest market in Europe, helped by a 1% rise in June. France (+1.5% in June and +4.5% YTD) continued to grow as a result of environmental incentives on new cars which provide rebates to buyers purchasing new cars with CO2 emissions of less than 130g/km. But Spain saw a fall of 50,000 units, or -30%.

In some of the developing markets there was some significant growth in the first half of the year, particularly Slovakia (+19.6%), the Czech Republic (+10.7%) and Poland (+12.6%).

But sales last month were off in Denmark (-62.4%), Ireland (-48.3%) and Latvia (-45.6%), "demonstrating worsening market conditions in Europe", according to Jato.

[Source : Just-Auto]