Ford_News
03-22-2014, 07:05 AM
Filed under: Car Buying (http://www.autoblog.com/category/carbuying/), Europe (http://www.autoblog.com/category/euro/), BMW (http://www.autoblog.com/bmw/), Ford (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/), GM (http://www.autoblog.com/category/gm/), Mercedes-Benz (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/), Toyota (http://www.autoblog.com/toyota/), Volkswagen (http://www.autoblog.com/volkswagen/), Renault (http://www.autoblog.com/category/renault/), Peugeot (http://www.autoblog.com/category/peugeot/), Citroën (http://www.autoblog.com/category/citroen/), UK (http://www.autoblog.com/category/uk/)
http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/GLOB/crop/2874x1928+0+18/resize/628x417!/format/jpg/quality/85/http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/adam/f71702d1b65b706f72b960c05964eaa7/85162860.jpg (http://europe.autonews.com/article/20140318/ANE/303189976/european-car-sales-rise-8-in-february-as-regions-economy-revives)
Three weeks ago (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/11/european-sales-forecasts-getting-brighter-2014/) an analyst increased projections for European car sales this year, expecting them to climb three percent compared to last year instead of 2.7 percent. That number is a postive sign after years of hard times but it turns out February was especially good, overall European sales climbing eight percent on a wave of southern European recovery and discounts - and this comes after five months of gains including January's 7.2-percent jump over the year before.
The only country of Europe's five largest markets to post a decline was France, just as it did in January, Germany, the UK and Italy posting solid double-digit numbers, Spain rocking the charts with an 18-percent increase because of a government program to encourage trade-ins.
The only brand to miss the wave was Volkswagen (http://www.autoblog.com/vw/), dropping 0.8 percent as it watched the double-digit growth at sister brands Audi (http://www.autoblog.com/audi/), Seat (http://www.autoblog.com/category/seat/) and Skoda (http://www.autoblog.com/category/skoda/) lift the Volkswagen Group sales up by seven-percent. Peugeot (http://www.autoblog.com/category/peugeot/) overcame flat sales at Citroën (http://www.autoblog.com/category/citroen/) to improve the group by 3.5 percent, BMW (http://www.autoblog.com/bmw/)and the Mercedes-Benz (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/)/Smart (http://www.autoblog.com/smart/) combo rose by four percent, the Fiat (http://www.autoblog.com/fiat/) group jumped 5.8 percent, Ford (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/)was up 11 percent, the Renault (http://www.autoblog.com/category/renault/) Group 11.5 percent, General Motors (http://www.autoblog.com/gm/) 12 percent and the Toyota (http://www.autoblog.com/toyota/) clan by 14 percent.
But every silver lining has a dark cloud, in this case it's the level of discounting that's pumping up sales. One analyst compared the current situation in Europe to the profit-killing discounting carried on by GM and Chrysler before bankruptcy, another - less dire - cautioning patience instead of touting recovery. Even so, said another analyst, "Demand has been depressed for so long that it can only go up."European car sales up 8% in February (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/22/european-car-sales-up-8-percent-february/) originally appeared on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com) on Sat, 22 Mar 2014 09:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.mnfords.com/rss-term-of-use/).
Permalink (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/22/european-car-sales-up-8-percent-february/) | Email this (http://www.autoblog.com/forward/20852614/) | Comments (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/22/european-car-sales-up-8-percent-february/#comments)
More... (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/22/european-car-sales-up-8-percent-february/)
http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/GLOB/crop/2874x1928+0+18/resize/628x417!/format/jpg/quality/85/http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/adam/f71702d1b65b706f72b960c05964eaa7/85162860.jpg (http://europe.autonews.com/article/20140318/ANE/303189976/european-car-sales-rise-8-in-february-as-regions-economy-revives)
Three weeks ago (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/11/european-sales-forecasts-getting-brighter-2014/) an analyst increased projections for European car sales this year, expecting them to climb three percent compared to last year instead of 2.7 percent. That number is a postive sign after years of hard times but it turns out February was especially good, overall European sales climbing eight percent on a wave of southern European recovery and discounts - and this comes after five months of gains including January's 7.2-percent jump over the year before.
The only country of Europe's five largest markets to post a decline was France, just as it did in January, Germany, the UK and Italy posting solid double-digit numbers, Spain rocking the charts with an 18-percent increase because of a government program to encourage trade-ins.
The only brand to miss the wave was Volkswagen (http://www.autoblog.com/vw/), dropping 0.8 percent as it watched the double-digit growth at sister brands Audi (http://www.autoblog.com/audi/), Seat (http://www.autoblog.com/category/seat/) and Skoda (http://www.autoblog.com/category/skoda/) lift the Volkswagen Group sales up by seven-percent. Peugeot (http://www.autoblog.com/category/peugeot/) overcame flat sales at Citroën (http://www.autoblog.com/category/citroen/) to improve the group by 3.5 percent, BMW (http://www.autoblog.com/bmw/)and the Mercedes-Benz (http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/)/Smart (http://www.autoblog.com/smart/) combo rose by four percent, the Fiat (http://www.autoblog.com/fiat/) group jumped 5.8 percent, Ford (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/)was up 11 percent, the Renault (http://www.autoblog.com/category/renault/) Group 11.5 percent, General Motors (http://www.autoblog.com/gm/) 12 percent and the Toyota (http://www.autoblog.com/toyota/) clan by 14 percent.
But every silver lining has a dark cloud, in this case it's the level of discounting that's pumping up sales. One analyst compared the current situation in Europe to the profit-killing discounting carried on by GM and Chrysler before bankruptcy, another - less dire - cautioning patience instead of touting recovery. Even so, said another analyst, "Demand has been depressed for so long that it can only go up."European car sales up 8% in February (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/22/european-car-sales-up-8-percent-february/) originally appeared on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com) on Sat, 22 Mar 2014 09:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.mnfords.com/rss-term-of-use/).
Permalink (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/22/european-car-sales-up-8-percent-february/) | Email this (http://www.autoblog.com/forward/20852614/) | Comments (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/22/european-car-sales-up-8-percent-february/#comments)
More... (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/22/european-car-sales-up-8-percent-february/)