World Vehicle Sales Inch Up in January

Global vehicle sales rose just 2.6% in January to 6.96 million units. This was the 10^th straight month of year-over-year increases, but was the smallest volume posted since August.

North and South America both reported declines in January, while Europe and the Asia-Pacific region recorded modest increases over 2013.

The Asia-Pacific region grew 3.9% in the month to 3.5 million units, led by gains in China and Japan. This accounted for half of the worldwide market.

Deliveries in China rose to a record 2.2 million in January. This bested the previous high set in December by about 20,000 units and was up 6.0% from the 2.0 million vehicles sold in January 2013.

Japan sales climbed as well, up 29.4%, the largest year-over-year increase for the country since July 2012. Steep declines in countries such as India (-11.7%) and South Korea (-9.4%) kept the Asia-Pacific region’s growth modest.

Europe was able to maintain momentum in January, with sales up 2.7% as the economy continued to recover from a devastating debt crisis that overtook the region in 2013.

Gains in Germany (+6.8%), Italy (+4.1%), Spain (+11.6%) and the U.K. (+7.4%) were able to overshadow the downturns seen in France (-3.4%), Russia (-5.9%) and Belgium (-1.5%).

In January, Europe held a 19.3% share of the world market, second behind the Asia-Pacific region.

North American deliveries fell 2.3% to 1.2 million units in January, accounting for 17.5% of global sales. This was the first year-over-year decline since September’s 3.1% drop and marked the lowest monthly volume for the region since January 2012.

The U.S. posted sales of 1.0 million units in the month, down 2.9% from year-ago following a string of winter storms that moved across much of the country at the beginning and near the end of the month. Sales did rise in Canada and Mexico in January, up 0.3% and 1.0%, respectively, but this was not enough to offset the loss witnessed in the U.S.

Sales in South America fell in January as well, down 3.6% to 455,000 units, a 6.5% share of the world market.

Brazil, the region’s largest market, reached 312,619 vehicles in the month, up 0.4% from January 2013. This was the first year-over-year increase for the country since September. Deliveries in Chile also rose in January, up 0.8%, while Argentina saw sales fall 19.5%.

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