Western European Car Market Performs as Predicted

The western European car market has moved in line with estimates from automotive market analysts Polk, to 5.6 per cent.

The Japanese and Korean manufacturers were way ahead of the rest, having now captured a 16.1 per cent market share. Ford also fared well with 10.5 per cent yoy, thanks to good sales volumes of its C Max.

BMW (F-BMWG-E35.5-H) emerged as the strongest of the European OEMs with 9.7 per cent yoy. The BMW brand alone took 12 per cent year over year, driven by the 5 Series and X3.

Fiat (M-FIA-E6.4-S) attributed its strong performance to its new Lancia Y, its domestic market share was up 7.4 per cent. VW (F-VOWG-E32.8-H) was in line with the market at six per cent, with some weakness of its Audi brand, which has been put down to the replacement of its A6.

French manufacturers were below trend. Renault (F-RNO-E60.4-B) fell by 0.3 per cent, facing tougher competition with the launch of Scenic in June last year. Peugeot (P-PEUP-E44.9-B) was up 3.4 per cent with the new 407 making a marginal contribution.