World Vehicle Sales Soar 7.8% in August

Global vehicle sales totaled 7.02 million in August, rising 7.8% above year-ago, the biggest monthly year-over-year increase in 2016.

Though generally a slow month for consumers in Europe, when much of the region is on vacation, August’s tally was up 6.3% over same-month 2015 with 1.22 million units. The total was boosted by big gains in large markets such as Germany (+11.3%) and Italy (+28.1%).

Sales in the U.K increased 3.7% over year-ago, though the total of 100,000 units was less than half of July’s result.

Year-to-date, Europe sales were 5.7% ahead of same-period 2015 with 13.33 million deliveries as the region continues to record steady growth since the 2008 financial crisis.

The Asia-Pacific region also witnessed growth, soaring 16.0% above year-ago with 3.52 million vehicles sold in August.

In China, August sales soared 23.9% over year-ago to 2.08 million units. The year-over-year growth came as no surprise, since stock prices fell sharply last summer, crippling vehicle sales and prompting the government to lower taxes on small-engine vehicles to revitalize the market.

Without China’s inflated growth, the rest of region grew 6.2% above year-ago. Sales in Japan, the world’s third-largest market, rose 2.9% to 337,000 units. India was close behind with 315,000 vehicles sold, a 13.5% improvement over August 2015.

For the first eight months, sales in the Asia-Pacific region outpaced same-period 2015 by 7.6% with 29.04 million units.

South America saw a 3.6% decrease in August sales, its smallest year-over-year decline this year, with 347,000 vehicles. Sales grew an outstanding 24.7% in Argentina with 70,700 units and increased 5.4% in Uruguay to 3,800.

The region’s January-through-August total was 15.5% behind year-ago, with 2.5 million units.

August sales were slow in North America, falling 2.1% to 1.85 million vehicles. The U.S. witnessed a 3.7% decline with 1.54 million units, and sales in Canada fell 2.1% to 175,000. The 19.2% growth in Mexico to 138,000 was not enough to bring the region out of the red.

Still, year-to-date sales in North America were up 1.7% with 14.26 million units.

Worldwide vehicle sales through August reached 59.80 million, a 4.4% increase over same-period 2015.

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