BSCB featured in prestigious French newspaper Le Monde

Following three separate interviews with journalist Eric Béziat, BSCB was featured in last Thursday’s edition of French newspaper Le Monde, one of the most important and widely respected newspapers in the world according to Wikipedia. The subject of the article is the concurrent stalling of the 3 main world markets (China, Europe and North America). BSCB was quoted as the reference website for worldwide car sales statistics and I was quoted as a China specialist, commenting on the historical decline of the Chinese market, the reluctance of the government to intervene with a tax break and my forecast of further decline in 2019. I also comment on the spectacular rise of truck sales in North America. Click on the image above to zoom in.

The full article can be found (in French) here.

A rough English translation of the parts where I’m quoted are below:

The big turnaround of the world car market / In China, the United States and Europe, the automotive sector is in the process of stalling all at the same time.

For the first time since 1990, the Chinese car market should drop in 2018. “The decline will reach roughly 3% says Matt Gasnier, founder of Bestsellingcarsblog.com, the reference website on car sales statistics and a specialist of China. This time, the Chinese government hasn’t shown any intention to support its home market like it did in 2015. I wouldn’t be surprised if the decline perdures well into 2019”.

In the United States, the automotive market – at historical high levels – is in equilibrium on a crest of 17 million vehicles since 2016. The sector has been held for the past two years by promotions, 0% financing and premature replacements of long term leases. (…) “The most striking element in North America is the freefalling of passenger car sales in favour of trucks (pickups and SUVs) confirms M. Gasnier. This latter category should get closer to 70% of market share.”

I was also instrumental ending the article on a positive note, providing statistical info for the last sentence of the article which reads:

All is not morose. Some countries start 2019 strengthened by dynamic 2018 results: Brazil, Japan, Russia… and most of all India, which should break a new all-time record in 2018 arousing an entire auto industry in search of new miraculous pockets of growth.