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Analysis
After five months of decelerating growth, worldwide vehicle sales registered a 7.2% rise in August, the strongest year-to-year performance since February’s 9.1% gain.
Growth had been mired below 4% since March and fell below 1% in July.
The healthy August result, reflecting total sales of 5.94 million units, came even as concern about a double-dip recession – particularly in Europe and North America – continued to grow. Yet both regions played a major role in buoying sales.
Auto makers sold more than 1.26 million vehicles across Europe, a 12.4% increase over year-ago and the region’s second-largest monthly increase in the past year.
In Germany, the region’s largest market, deliveries climbed 18.6% to 263,000 units. Russia claimed the No.2 spot, up 33.1% to 235,000. Collectively, European markets accounted for 21.3% of global vehicle sales.
Related document: World Vehicle Sales Summary
More than 1.3 million vehicles were sold in North America in August. The 8.1% jump reflected an 8.4% rise in the U.S., on unit sales of 1.1 million. Mexico saw a 12.4% rise, with deliveries topping 78,000. Along with Canada’s 143,000 units, up 3.9%, the region took a 22.2% share of world sales.
Deliveries in the Asia/Pacific region grew for the first time since February, with a 4.1% gain on sales of nearly 2.5 million vehicles – 42% of all deliveries worldwide.
