British motorists continued to flock to the car showrooms in May, when 208,669 new cars were registered. This marked the 20th consecutive month of growth in the car market and easily beat the previous record of 199,258 new registrations set in 1989.
Automotive analysts, Autopolis predict a 13 per cent fall in the European car market (from 1999 peak level, in the next 18 months. The claim is based on the European trend showing first in Scandinavian markets, Greece and the Netherlands. Danish demand has already fallen by 40 per cent, Finland by 20 per cent and Greece by 29 per cent in the last year. Economic conditions reinforce the prediction, which would see the market drop by 1.9million units by 2003. Autopolis expects recovery in late 2003, but that there will be little long-term growth till 2010, with Toyota and Hyundai making the greatest gains, whilst smaller producers lose share.
The alloy wheel market in the UK is nothing like the size of , say, that in Germany, and reliable estimates of its size are hard to come by, although one educated guess is £500 m at wholesale prices. Reasons for the comparatively small market are manifold, varying from the way cars are sold in the UK to the effect of the large company car/fleet sector, which accounts for over half of new car sales. Fleet buyers do not welcome anything which increases costs, and alloy wheels fall into this category. Despite this drawback, the UK alloy wheel market is growing, due largely to increasing fitment in the OE sector. In the aftermarket, it is those who have disposable income to spend and who are fashion conscious that buy alloys and, as with most other fashion accessories, this means the young. As with other fashions, there are labels which are “in” and others which lack street cred and, again as with other fashions, the successful designs spawn many imitations. So, in order to stay ahead of the pack, the leading design labels have to introduce new designs – to reinvent the wheel.
After a short interruption in April, the negative trend in passenger car sales continued in the European Union. According to the car manufacturers’ association ACEA, sales in the 15 member states in May were down by 2.7 percent compared to the previous year. In the first five months the business decreased by 3.2 percent in comparison with the first five months of 2000.
Tyrexpo Asia 2001, to be held at the Singapore Expo Centre from 11 – 13 September, is the third Tyrexpo Asia to be held in Singapore. Although the name is the same, the exhibition has changed hands since the last show in 1998, but there is still a measure of continuity as the MD of the new organisers, ECI Ltd, is Paul Farrant, who was a director of previous organisers Labelex Exhibitions. And of course this show, like the first two, is being sponsored by TYRES & ACCESSORIES and German sister magazine NEUE REIFENZEITUNG. In reality, “the Asian market” is a collection of individual markets, each with varying degrees of potential. This has been recognised by others, and we have seen a number of exhibitions, loosely connected with the tyre industry in specific markets over previous years. In many cases, tyres and related equipment and services have been added on as something of an afterthought. Not so Tyrexpo Asia, which Paul Farrant describes as “the only show in the area dedicated to the tyre industry, and the one which is the best-established and which has built up a solid reputation.” The first show was held at a time of great optimism, with the phrase “Asian tiger economies” on everybody’s lips. What a difference there was two years later, with the words “Asian tigers” being replaced by “Asian crises”. But Asia is fighting back – car sales are increasing steadily, and cars mean tyres. The influence of south east Asia in the world’s tyre industry should not be under-estimated, neither should it be forgotten that four of the world’s ten largest tyre manufacturers are based in Asia and no fewer than fourteen of the world’s top twenty hail from Asia or the Indian sub-continent.
The German car industry will this year, for the fourth time, produce more than five million cars, announced the association of the car industry in Stuttgart. The losers in terms of car sales are expected to be the importers. For the year as a whole. it is estimated that there will be 3.33 million new car registrations in Germany – about 50,000 fewer than the previous year. Exports are expected to reach a new record.
US auto sales in 1999 reached 17.4 million; a 9.1% increase over 1998. Audi car sales rose 39% to 65,959, Porsche sold 17,243 cars (+21%) and Mercedes 189,437 (+11.3%). Chrysler “only” achieved an increase of 5.1%.
Renault car sales last year totalled 2.29 million; a 7.4% increase. The company also announced that, in the future, it will use Nissan’s production capacity outside Japan to produce and market Renault cars.
Sales up till July seem to be in line with last year’s strong performance. Ford is one of the winners, GM is stagnating and Chrysler heavily losing market share. BMW, Porsche and some of the Japanese and Korean car manufacturers are performing particularly well.
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