Summary: Sales growth rates for major multinational manufacturers across various markets

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai) - Following years of rapid expansion, growth rates in the Chinese automobile market have begun slowing down in 2012. By comparison, the market in the United States has maintained steady growth, while the eurozone crisis has negatively affected growth rates in Europe. Growth rates over the first eight months of the year across these three markets are briefly summarized below.

Of the 14 major multinational automobile manufacturers operating in China, three of them, all Japanese, experienced negative double digit year-on-year sales growth over from January to August. The other 11 enterprises managed to sustain solid positive growth. Most notably, luxury manufacturer BMW achieved year-on-year growth of over 50 percent. It was followed by fellow German company Volkswagen, whose sales increased 20 percent. Toyota, Daimler, Honda, Kia, Ford and Nissan also reported double digit year-on-year growth.

Market conditions across the Pacific were also very good this year. Aside from Suzuki and Mitsubishi, the 12 other major manufacturers all reported positive year-on-year sales growth over the first eight months of the year. Among them, VW's sales increased the most, reporting a year-on-year growth rate of over 37 percent. The Wolfsburg-based manufacturer was followed by Toyota, which also achieved growth of over 30 percent. Honda, Audi, Kia, Daimler, Nissan and Mazda also managed to maintain growth rates of over ten percent.

The situation was much more different in Europe, where only Kia, Hyundai and VW reported positive year-on-year growth over the eight month time frame. Even among them, VW's growth rate was slightly below one percent, leaving only the two Korean manufacturers managing to report notable growth. The other 11 major multinationals all reported declining sales, with Mitsubishi once again at the bottom of the pack.