November European Auto Sales Slide for Third Straight Month

By Paul Ausick Updated Jan 11, 1:42PM EST · Published Dec 14, 7:25AM EST

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

November European Auto Sales Slide for Third Straight Month — © Tramino / Getty Images

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) on Friday reported new vehicle registration totals in the European Union for the month of November. Sales declined by 8% year over year in the month. Registrations (sales) fell for the third consecutive month, which the ACEA still attribute to the September 1 implementation of new emissions and fuel-consumption testing procedures that drove sales much higher in July and August as automakers and dealers cleared out non-compliant vehicles.

Overall monthly sales totaled 1.12 million vehicles. Sales for the first 11 months of 2018 totaled 14.16 million, an increase of 0.8% compared with the same period in 2017.

Of the Detroit Three, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) saw its November market share in the EU remain unchanged year over year at 5.9%. Unit sales totaled 68,720, down by 8% year over year. Sales of the Fiat brand fell by 11.4%, while Jeep sales rose by 29.1%.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) sold 72,783 units in November, a year-over-year decline of 8.4% for the month. The company’s November market share rang in at 6.3%, the same as last year. In its own report on November sales released Wednesday, the company said sales dropped 5.4%, but Ford counts sales in fewer countries than does the ACEA.

[nativounit]

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) has left the EU market and had sales of just 190 units in November. GM stopped selling vehicles in Europe in July of 2017.

The top-selling maker in the EU is Volkswagen, which sold 275,004 vehicles in November, down 11.3% year over year for the month. Its market share for the month totaled 23.7%, down from 24.6% in November 2017.

PSA Group, makers of Peugeot and Citroen among other brands, posted a November sales decrease of 6.1% to 187,901 units. The company’s market share increased from 15.9% to 16.2%.

Renault Group posted a volume decline of 15.9% to 117,269 units in November, and its share dropped from 11.1% to 10.1% year over year.

BMW Group’s market share increased in November from 7.0% a year ago to 7.4%. The company sold 85,679 units last month, down by 2.6% compared with year-ago November sales of 87,950.

Daimler also posted a market share increase last month, rising from 6.4% in November 2017 to 7.2% with sales totaling 82,892 units. On a volume basis, sales rose 3.1% year over year.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) posted market share of 5.1% in November, up from 4.5% a year ago. Sales volume increased by 2.8% to 58,625 units.

For the month of November, Germany was the volume leader, with more than 272,000 units sold (down 9.9% year over year for the month), followed by France with sales of nearly 172,000 (down 4.7%), the United Kingdom with nearly 159,000 sales (down 3.0%) and Italy with almost 147,000 vehicles sold (down 6.3%).

EU sales totaled 15.14 million units in 2017, compared with 2016 sales for the 27 EU members of 14.64 million, a year-over-year increase of 3.4%.

[recirclink id=510271]

[wallst_email_signup]

About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.