Filed under: Car Buying, Euro, UK
U.S. may slip to second in global car sales behind Europe
So far this year, increased car sales in the U.K. and Italy -- two of the biggest markets in Europe -- along with a rising tide across Central and Eastern Europe, have contributed to a 1.9-percent increase in car consumption across the Atlantic. While the U.S. has traditionally been the world leader in units of vehicles sold, with some 16 million leaving dealer lots in 2006, that might change come the end of this year.The raw numbers are staggering. In the first ten months of 2007, 13,583,559 cars were sold in the U.S., compared to 13,572,669 in Europe during the same period. That's a difference of just over 10,000 vehicles, and with sales dropping due to rising fuel prices and the credit crunch here at home, Europe has a good chance of knocking the U.S. out of the top spot come December 31st.
Analysts predict that both markets will get close to the 16 million mark by the end of the year, with Europe handily eclipsing the U.S. in 2008.
[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
seoultrain 7:08AM (12/10/2007)
o well, we couldn't stay ahead of an entire continent for long. I'm sure North America will be 1st for a while, though.
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Bob-o 7:20AM (12/10/2007)
As it should be. The population of Europe is close to 730 million...while we only have less than half that at 300 million. We're just lazy, and frown on public transportation. :)
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Jollybengali 12:53PM (12/10/2007)
Car sales and attitudes about public transportation in the U.S. are related to population density. Europeans are packed closer together and trains and buses make more sense in that type of a situation. Besides, I challenge you to define "lazy" with any kind of accuracy. On average, Americans spend more time at work than citizens of almost all other industrialized nations. If you speak of America's obesity problem, that is more related to the type of food we eat than our exercise habits. I'm not suggesting we don't have problems as a society, and I imagine you may have some good ideas about how to fix them. However, when people have to listen to inaccurate complaining, they become much less likely to motivate themselves to make the changes that would benefit us all. Further, many of those people will vote for candidates like Bush out of spite, just to stick it to such complainers.
rgseidl 1:25PM (12/10/2007)
Total population in the EU + EFTA - which is what "Europe" refers to in this context - is around 450 million. If vehicle prices and purchasing power were on par with the US, you'd therefore expect unit sales in the 24 million range. However, well over 100 million people are actually citizens of former Soviet satellites and they are still playing catch-up.
Also, Germany's new car market is in doldrums this year because of a 3% hike in sales tax coupled with sky-high fuel prices and uncertainty about future vehicle license fees. Next year is expected to be a little better, if only because a number of cities will close their access routed to both very old diesels and gasoline cars without catalytic converters on days with poor air quality (high PM10 levels).
Avinash machado 7:22AM (12/10/2007)
China's automobile market is growing fast. It could inch ahead of both the European and North American markets in the near future.
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Flea 7:31AM (12/10/2007)
I'm not sure this is referred to the EU (460 million people) or all of Europe. But then again, besides norway and switzerland, all developed countries (aka, many cars) ARE part of the EU.
In any case, the huge amount of scooter sales there should also be taken into account... with majority of the population living in cities that were NOT built to sustain modern car traffic, but rather horse traffic in the middle ages, scooters are always a better choice for getting across the city in half of the time it would take in a car.
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sk 7:53AM (12/10/2007)
Are you kidding, Switzerland and Norway have a population of 11 million, thats just 2.4% of all EU members. That would hardly contribute to any big change in cars sold.
Flea 9:16AM (12/10/2007)
that was my point. the entirety of europe that actually represents the giant car market is the EU, which has 460-470 million people, and not 730 million like someone else said.
nagmashot 10:59AM (12/10/2007)
I have to laugh my ass off reading such comments...
The largest trucks allowed for transport in Europe are 62to...
BMW Mercedes Audi build pretty large cars... even by US standart... yeah we all park the cars outside the citys because we can´t drive downtown with them...
BTW little Einstein.. citys like New York, Chigago, San Fransico were founded long befor the first car hit the street of Germany...
http://www.flywestwind.com/Hubs/images/frankfurt_skyline.jpg
This is Frankfurt am Main Germany.. 10miles away from my home... we all ride with horses to work.. YEEHAAAAA..
k.w.a 8:09AM (12/10/2007)
yaay! now we won't be the ones to blame for global warming. Well, i guess we have more gas guzzlers.I mean, if the BMW X5 and Hummer H3 are what they consider huge gas guzzling problems...
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ThwartedEfforts 8:42AM (12/10/2007)
I think you should look closer at the average fuel economy of both markets before commenting further ;)
"In Europe, cars on average get 40 mpg, compared with 20.4 mpg for U.S. cars."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17344368/
Cough, splutter
k.w.a 8:57AM (12/10/2007)
that was my point. I'm from the US. that's why i said " i guess we have more gas guzzlers." pay attention. geez!
Andrew 3:26PM (12/10/2007)
Sorry, but cars are hardly the greatest source of CO2. I don't know how much truth there is to global warming. But it's a question of industries and pollutants not cars. And Europe signed up to the Kyoto agreement to reduce and cap emissions - in fact everyone except the US did. So this won't change much :)
k.w.a 3:55PM (12/10/2007)
I see some people on AB can't take a joke. lol
Dad 9:23AM (12/10/2007)
Having just spent the last 4 months this summer in the Balkans, I saw that car consumption is skyrocketing! The folks in Kosovo and Macedonia are car crazy! And they have the air pollution to prove it with all those diesel cars that cannot meet American pollution standards.
When you leave the communist system behind and taste the freedom they now have (thanks to the USA) you spend more time buying stuff and cars are stuff. May Europe be number one in car consumption forever!
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Austin 9:57AM (12/10/2007)
Europe is not a country, its a continent. You can not include it as one. who cares if they are in the EU, it doesn't matter. If that is the case, lets include U.S., Mexico, Canada, Panama, Haiti, Bahamas, etc.
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Eric Biran 3:38PM (12/10/2007)
Thank you. This is what I was thinking too. Even though the US started out as independent "states," it has been a single country for a good many years now. Europe is no such thing.
RicardoHead 10:08AM (12/10/2007)
Big deal. Europe ecclipses us in the consumption of asparagus too. Am I worried?
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the marais 10:39AM (12/10/2007)
Maybe a better statistic would be amount of gross dollars/euros used to purchase automobiles. I imagine a large chunk of european sales are going to sub-13K euro 1.0L 66hp econoboxes. In the U.S., the average car purchase is probably over 20K dollars and the average horsepower over 140.
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Yggdrasilly 11:03AM (12/10/2007)
If Europe's public transit systems are so good, why are people buying all these cars?
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