European car buyers increase for fifth month but national results vary

(jean schweitzer)

Europe posted its fifth straight month of increasing car sales last month, bringing them more than a third of the way back from 14 months of declines, according to data released October 15 by the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA).

But the 6.3 percent gain from September 2008 still adds up to a 6.6 percent drop in cumulative year-on-year sales, for Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the 27-member EU (excluding Malta and Cyprus, for which data was not available).

With the year now three quarters in the books, only three of the original 15 EU countries are increasing their sales from last year at this time: Germany (+26.1%), Austria (+6.7%) and France (+2.4%).

The three leading countries share one common denominator: significant government incentive programs to subsidize new purchases combined with scrappage of old cars.

Among the Second 12 EU members, sales are down 28.7 percent overall compared to September 2008, with growth in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia undercut by serious drops elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe.

The biggest losers are scattered throughout Europe, however, with countries ranging from Iceland and Ireland to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,  all of which have seen their sales drop by more than 63 percent over September of last year. 

European Car Sales September 2009

Country	Sept. 09 Over Sept. 08 % Change	2009 Over Jan.-Sept. 08 % Change
Austria	+17.9	+6.7
Belgium	-5.7	-14.9
Denmark	-19.4	-33.1
Finland	-23.8	-38.8
France	+14.0	+2.4
Germany	+21.0	+26.1
Greece	-36.5	-19.8
Ireland	-34.7	-63.0
Italy	+6.8	-5.9
Luxemburg	-13.8	-11.6
Netherlands	-17.6	-24.8
Portugal	-12.5	-30.4
Spain	+18.0	-28.6
Sweden	-15.5	-22.7
UK	+11.4	-15.5
Iceland	-83.7	-79.5
Norway	+12.7	-21.5
Switzerland	+2.9	-9.9
Bulgaria	-54.4	-47
Czech Republic	+0.5	+8.0
Estonia	-59.0	-66.1
Hungary	-75.8	-59.3
Latvia	-80.4	-80.2
Lithuania	-69.3	-69.4
Poland	+7.9	+1.7
Romania	-74.5	-61.2
Slovakia	-4.6	+19.7
Slovenia	-17.8	-22.3