World September 2014: Global car market up 4.7%

Albeit at a slower rate, China is still the main engine of growth in the automotive market in 2014.

Based on data published by POLK, global passenger car sales are up 4.7% year-on-year in September to 6.927.151 registrations. This brings the year-to-date total to a record 59.242.409 units, up 4.6% on 2014. Asia, Northern American and Western Europe more than made up for sharp losses in Eastern Europe and Latin America: sales in the Asia/Pacific region are up 6.3%, with China (albeit at a slower growth rate) compensating for a decrease in Japan, while sales in the NAFTA region are up 5%. In Latin America, the new car market is down 6.5% in September and 8.7% YTD, with Argentina and Brazil down sharply. Western Europe is up 6.4% in September and 5.2% YTD, whereas Eastern Europe posted a 8.6% decline due to the civil war in Ukraine and anctions imposed on Russia, bringing the year-to-date total down 9.4%.

Projections for the Full Year 2014 at Polk stand at a record 78.3 million units, which would be a 3.8% improvement over 2013. New registrations in the Asia/Pacific region are expected to increase by 6.9% in 2014. In China alone, sales in the current year will be up around 1.8 million units from the year before. New registrations in the NAFTA region are expected to continue to climb to about 19.2 million units (up 5.4%). Sales in the Latin American markets, on the other hand, will fall to about 5.4 million units (-9.2%) and will be down in Eastern Europe as well (-9.6%). Passenger vehicle demand in Western Europe, on the other hand, will be up once again in 2014 (up 4.6%).

All-in-all, continued growth in Asia and the NAFTA region, as well as the progressing recovery in Western Europe, will push global passenger vehicle sales over the 80 million-unit mark for the first time in 2015. Note this is passenger cars only, and this data does not include sales of commercial vehicles, light medium or heavy. Source: POLK via SMMT