World Vehicle Sales Rose 6.9% in February

Automakers sold close to 7 million vehicles worldwide in February, a 6.9% jump over same-month 2016.

The biggest gain was seen in the Asia-Pacific region, up 15.9% to 3.30 million units, where a growing middle class has created a surge of new buyers in recent years.  

China sales increased 22.0% over like-2016 to 1.94 million vehicles, after a slow January. As one of the only countries to gain market share last month, China commanded 27.7% of world sales, up from year-ago’s 24.3%. New, reasonably priced SUV models are coming to market monthly to keep up with robust demand in that sector.

Other markets in the region also witnessed significant growth. India sales jumped 8.7% to 326,000 units and Japan’s total grew 7.4% to 485,000. Sales in Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam rose 22.7%, 19.9% and 53.2%, respectively.

For the first two months of the year, the Asia-Pacific region outpaced like-2016 by 7.9% with 7.10 million vehicles.

Sales were steady in Europe, reaching 1.44 million units, an increase of 0.7% over February 2016. Smaller markets picked up the slack from slow sales in France (-1.8%), Germany (-2.4%) and the U.K. (-0.5%). Demand was high in Austria (+10.6%), Slovenia (+19.5%) and the Netherlands (+10.3%).

Greece sales skyrocketed 60.1% to 5,800 vehicles, with help from a clunkers-for-cash tax incentive. Still, back in February 2008 Greek auto dealers sold nearly five times as many vehicles.

Year-to-date sales in Europe reached 2.94 million, a 4.7% increase over like-2016.

Results in South America were mixed, with several countries beginning to see improvement while other markets continued to decline. Argentina sales grew 18.9% to 56,000 units, amid falling unemployment rates. Neighboring Chile saw 9.9% gains, while Brazil sales dropped 7.6% to 136,000 vehicles.

Sales in Venezuela continued to shrink, down 33.8% to 215 units, while large protests erupted against President Maduro, accusing him of human rights violations.

Through February, South America sales were up 5.9% compared to like-2016 with 558,000 deliveries.

In North America, slow demand in the U.S. (-1.5%) brought the region’s month total down 0.6% to 1.60 million.

Canada sales rose 2.8% to 125,000 and were up 2.5% year-to-date. Demand was strong in Mexico, up 6.4% to 121,000 units, with records set in both car and light-truck sales. The 2-month total of 247,000 was 4.7% ahead of like-2016.

North America’s tally through February fell 1.0% behind same-period 2016 to 3.00 million sales.

Globally, year-to-date vehicle sales improved 5.1% to 14.53 million.