World Vehicle Sales Inch Up in October

Global vehicle sales climbed just 1.1% in October, with 7.1 million units delivered. Solid gains posted in North America and Europe were able to offset sharp declines witnessed in South America and flat sales in the Asia-Pacific region.

North American deliveries accounted for 22.1% of the worldwide market in the month, with 1.5 million vehicles sold. This was up 6.8% over like-2013, marking the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year increases.

Strong sales were recorded in every North American country in October, with Mexico posting the largest growth, a 13.3% jump, over October 2013. Sales in the U.S. rose 6.3% in the month, while deliveries in Canada climbed 6.7% on the lowest monthly volume since February.

Sales in Europe climbed as well, up 3.3% to 1.6 million units. This was the second straight month of year-over-year growth for the region, and the largest increase since March’s 7.1% uptick.

Germany, the region’s largest market, saw sales jump 4.3% in the month, while the U.K. posted an increase of 16.2%. Spain and Turkey also witnessed gains in October, up 28.3% and 15.6%, respectively. Other countries including France (-4.3%) and Russia (-10.3%), however, saw sales plummet from like-2013.

In October, Europe held a 23.0% share of the global market.

The Asia-Pacific region recorded flat sales growth in October with 3.3 million deliveries, accounting for 47.5% of global sales. This was the smallest year-over-year increase for the region since February 2013 when sales tumbled 8.5%.

Small gains witnessed in China (+2.8%) and South Korea (+0.9%) balanced downfalls posted in many other Asian countries. Deliveries in Japan fell 6.0% in the month, while India and Indonesia reported losses of 6.7% and 6.0%, respectively.

Sales in South America continued to drop in October, falling 15.0% from like-2013 to just 435,000 units, marking the eighth consecutive month of declines in the region.

Brazil saw deliveries pass 300,000 units in the month for the largest volume on record since January, but still was down 7.1% from year-ago levels.

Sales also fell in Argentina (-41.5%), Chile (-32.0%) and Uruguay (-20.6%), while Colombia remained the lone bright spot with volume up 10.4%.

Through October, 71.0 million vehicles were sold worldwide, up 2.3% from like-2013.  [email protected]