By William Boston
BERLIN--European new car sales bounced back sharply in June
after a weak performance the month before, lifting new car sales in
the first half of the year by 8.2%, the European Automobile
Manufacturers Association said Thursday.
New car registrations, a reflection of car sales, in the
European Union and members of the European Free Trade Association
rose to 1.41 million vehicles in June from 1.23 million a year
earlier. New car sales in the first six months of the year rose to
7.41 million vehicles from 6.85 million.
"The European new car market is in good shape and remains on
track for growth," said Peter Fuss, automotive consultant at Ernst
& Young, in a comment. "Low interest rates, discounts, falling
unemployment and growing consumer confidence are driving the
recovery."
Among Europe's big volume manufacturers, Renault SA (RNO.FR)
continued to lead its rivals in terms of growth, with sales of cars
with the Renault nameplate rising 10.4% to 518,098 cars in the
first half of the year.
Surging sales of its Jeep brand lifted new car sales of Fiat
Chrysler Automotive, the Italian-American auto manufacturing group,
12.6% to 472,825 vehicles. Jeep sales were up 174%, while sales of
the Fiat brand rose 9.6%.
Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE), Europe's biggest auto maker by sales,
commands a market share of about 25% with its Volkswagen nameplate
and other brands including Audi, Porsche and Skoda. Sales of the
Volkswagen brand rose 8.6% to 901,452 vehicles in the first
half.
Sales of Daimler AG's (DAI.XE) Mercedes-Benz cars rose 11% to
369,022 vehicles in the first half of the year, outpacing the
growth of rivals BMW AG (BMW.XE) and Audi AG (NSU.XE). New car
sales of BMW's namesake brand rose 7.4% to 373,110 cars, while Audi
sales grew 4.2% to 400,824 vehicles.
The recovery of European car sales is continuing on the back of
strong sales growth in the big five Western European
markets--Germany, the U.K., France, Italy and Spain.
Western Europe, the engine of the broader European car market,
could cool off a bit in the second half of the year and is expected
to grow about 5% to 12.7 million vehicles this year, according to
IHS Automotive, a research group.
The recovery of European car demand is fueled in part by
stronger economic growth and consumer confidence, but government
incentives such as Spain's cash-for-clunkers program and
significant dealer discounts are still a big driver of new car
sales, analysts said.
Car sales in Germany, the largest European car market, continued
to gain pace on the back of a strong economy, recent wage gains and
fierce competition among dealers offering steep discounts.
Consumers remain confident, shrugging off concerns about Greece's
potential exit from the euro currency.
Italy and Spain, whose economies were hit hard by the eurozone
debt crisis, reported the fastest growth in new car sales among the
big five European countries in the first half of the year. New car
registrations rose 22% to 555,222 vehicles in Spain and were up
15.2% to 758,064 vehicles in Italy.
Write to William Boston at william.boston@wsj.com
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