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New Fiat, BMW models fuel climb in European car sales
FIAT SpA and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG led European car sales higher last year, as demand for new models more than made up for a decline in Germany, the region’s biggest market.
European registrations gained 1.1 percent to 15.96 million cars, from 15.78 million in 2006, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers Association said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. December sales rose 1.2 percent to 1.12 million cars.
"Soaring oil prices, changes in taxes, shrinking credit availability and purchasing power restrained buyers’ confidence," the association said, citing a 9.2 percent slump in German registrations after the government raised sales tax.
European car makers are accelerating new model releases in a bid to spark a revival in lucrative home markets and claw back sales from foreign rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp. The Japanese car maker’s western European market share was unchanged at 5.7 percent in 2007, after gaining ground for five straight years, Bloomberg News said.
Turin, Italy-based Fiat’s European registrations surged 7.1 percent to 1.25 million cars on demand for the Bravo compact and 500 small car introduced last year, raising its share of European registrations to 7.8 percent from 7.4 percent.
Fiat was helped by the Italian market’s expansion in line with its own sales to 2.49 million cars, snatching the European No. 2 ranking from the UK, where registrations advanced 2.5 percent to 2.4 million. French registrations rose 3.2 percen t to 2.06 million cars.
Sales at Munich-based BMW rose 6.7 percent to 848,080 units, helped by sales of its Mini small cars and the X5 sport-utility vehicle introduced in late 2006. BMW’s European market share climbed 0.3 percentage point to 5.3 percent even as Germany’s January 1, 2007 sales tax hike persuaded many domestic consumers to put off big-ticket purchases or bring them forward to the last months of 2006.
Volkswagen AG, Europe’s biggest car maker, recorded a 1.1 percent drop in registrations to 3.15 million cars, hurt by the broader German market decline and the waning appeal of its Golf compact, which contributed to a 3.4 percent decline at the Volkswagen brand. A new version of the Wolfsburg-based company’s biggest seller is due in the last quarter of 2008.
Volkswagen’s market share was 19.7 percent, after a 0.5 percentage point slide, limited by the 1.3 percent sales increase at its no-frills Skoda brand and three percent gain at the Audi luxury division.
A 5.9 percent plunge in sales of Daimler AG’s Smart urban small car contributed to a 0.2 percent overall sales slide to 826,150 cars at the world’s second-largest maker of luxury vehicles, based in Stuttgart, Germany.
European registrations gained 1.1 percent to 15.96 million cars, from 15.78 million in 2006, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers Association said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. December sales rose 1.2 percent to 1.12 million cars.
"Soaring oil prices, changes in taxes, shrinking credit availability and purchasing power restrained buyers’ confidence," the association said, citing a 9.2 percent slump in German registrations after the government raised sales tax.
European car makers are accelerating new model releases in a bid to spark a revival in lucrative home markets and claw back sales from foreign rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp. The Japanese car maker’s western European market share was unchanged at 5.7 percent in 2007, after gaining ground for five straight years, Bloomberg News said.
Turin, Italy-based Fiat’s European registrations surged 7.1 percent to 1.25 million cars on demand for the Bravo compact and 500 small car introduced last year, raising its share of European registrations to 7.8 percent from 7.4 percent.
Fiat was helped by the Italian market’s expansion in line with its own sales to 2.49 million cars, snatching the European No. 2 ranking from the UK, where registrations advanced 2.5 percent to 2.4 million. French registrations rose 3.2 percen t to 2.06 million cars.
Sales at Munich-based BMW rose 6.7 percent to 848,080 units, helped by sales of its Mini small cars and the X5 sport-utility vehicle introduced in late 2006. BMW’s European market share climbed 0.3 percentage point to 5.3 percent even as Germany’s January 1, 2007 sales tax hike persuaded many domestic consumers to put off big-ticket purchases or bring them forward to the last months of 2006.
Volkswagen AG, Europe’s biggest car maker, recorded a 1.1 percent drop in registrations to 3.15 million cars, hurt by the broader German market decline and the waning appeal of its Golf compact, which contributed to a 3.4 percent decline at the Volkswagen brand. A new version of the Wolfsburg-based company’s biggest seller is due in the last quarter of 2008.
Volkswagen’s market share was 19.7 percent, after a 0.5 percentage point slide, limited by the 1.3 percent sales increase at its no-frills Skoda brand and three percent gain at the Audi luxury division.
A 5.9 percent plunge in sales of Daimler AG’s Smart urban small car contributed to a 0.2 percent overall sales slide to 826,150 cars at the world’s second-largest maker of luxury vehicles, based in Stuttgart, Germany.
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