Fiat, Ford and Toyota suffer most as European sales down 9.2% in September

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Fiat, Ford and Toyota have suffered a 6th straight monthly decline in European sales as demand for new cars diminishes as various government scrappage incentives end.

European new car registrations dropped 9.2% to 1.26 million units last month down from 1.39 million in 2009 while year to date sales fell 3.7% to 10.6 million, European car makers association has revealed.

Group deliveries at Fiat declined 21% to 86,773 units, hit by steep drops for the Italian car maker’s Fiat and Lancia brands.

Combined Toyota and Lexus registrations fell sharply by 21% to 57,573 units, while Ford declined by 20% to 108,700 units and Vauxhall/Opel saw volume fall 5% to 104,938 units.

Even VW, Europe’s biggest car maker with 21% market share, saw sales fall 4% to 262,624 units. An 11% drop for the VW brand was largely offset by a 10.5% gain for Audi and a 5% increase at Seat.

Daimler registered growth with 7% more Mercedes-Benz cars sold in Europe than in September 2009 and 2.5% more Smart cars, while BMW brand sales grew 2% and Mini suffered a 4% decline.

The region’s five biggest markets of Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the U.K. all declined last month, with sales in Spain slumping a massive 27%, by far the steepest drop.

Germany, Europe’s largest car market, whose scrapping scheme ran out at the beginning of September 2009, suffered an 18% decline although, according to industry association VDA, the market there German should return to growth towards the end of 2010, when the aftershock from the end of the government scrapping scheme should have worked its way through the system.

Sales fell 8% in France and there was an 19% fall in Italy as this year’s figures are compared to the strong sales seen last year when many scrapping schemes were still in force.

Smaller markets such as Ireland and Latvia expanded considerably, posting growth from very low levels in 2009 and 2008.

ACEA – September Sales Report (PDF & Excel)

Source: Automotive News