World Vehicle Sales Up 2.7% in November

Global automakers sold 8.55 million vehicles in November, rising 2.7% above year-ago.

In Europe, sales improved 4.3% to 1.75 million units heading into the Christmas holiday season. Big gains were seen in many large markets including France, where sales rose 10.1% to 224,000, and Spain, up 12.9% to 126,000.

Germany, Europe’s biggest market in terms of volume, saw a 9.1% boost to 338,000 units. Conversely, the U.K. was down 10.2% to 196,000 vehicles in November, and fell 4.9% year-to-date.

With the majority of countries posting gains through November, Europe’s 11-month tally was 4.2% ahead of like-2016 with 19.15 million cars and trucks.

Demand was strong in South America, too. Sales soared 14.5% to 355,000 units for the month, the highest November result in three years.

Argentina (+20%), Brazil (+14.6%) and Chile (+20.0%) all saw major improvement over year-ago’s weak results.

Overall, South America sales outpaced 11-month 2016 by 13.6% with 3.65 million units. Still, just a few years ago the tally was above 5 million by November.

Sales in the Asia-Pacific region grew 2.0% to 4.35 million for the month.

China saw a modest 1.0% improvement to 2.96 million units in November. Though the growth rate has slowed, this year’s 11-month total added 1 million units to same-period 2016 with 25.89 million sales.

November brought 20.0% more sales year-over-year to India with 348,000 vehicles. Pakistan (+17.6%) and Thailand (+20.6%) also saw double-digit growth.

Japan’s total fell 2.6% behind same-month 2016 with 407,000 units, but still was up 5.8% year-to-date.

The Asia-Pacific region improved 4.5% through November, with 41.06 million deliveries.

North America saw a 0.5% uptick in November, with 1.73 million sales. A 1.7% gain in the U.S. to 1.42 million units was just enough to balance a 0.8% loss in Canada and an 8.8% drop in Mexico.

Through November, North America was 0.9% behind 11-month 2016 with 19.27 million sales. Losses in the U.S. (-1.5%) and Mexico (-2.8%) pulled down the total.

Worldwide, automakers delivered 87.48 million vehicles year-to-date, outpacing same-period 2016 by 3.4%.

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