World Vehicle Sales Up 2.7% in September

Global vehicle sales totaled 7.4 million units in September, a 2.7% increase over like-2013 and the largest monthly volume since March’s 8.5 million-unit finish.

Solid gains were witnessed by nearly every region in the month, with North America posting the largest year-over-year growth. Sales in the region surged 10.2% to 1.5 million units, with all countries recording strong gains over year-ago.

Deliveries in the U.S. climbed 9.7% in September, while Canada and Mexico posted increases of 12.7% and 13.0%, respectively. Canada’s sales hike was the largest year-over-year growth for the country since May 2012, and was largely due to record-setting light-vehicle figures in the month.

In September, North American deliveries accounted for 20.7% of the global market.

Sales in the Asia-Pacific region increased 1.7% in September to 3.5 million units, accounting for 47.8% of worldwide deliveries. This was the smallest year-over-year growth for the region since April 2013 when sales rose just 1.5%.

Sales gains posted in China (+2.3%), India (+4.3%) and South Korea (+26.4%) were able to negate declines reported in Japan (-0.8%), Indonesia (-11.4%) and Thailand (-27.5%), allowing the region to remain in positive territory for the 19^th consecutive month.

Deliveries in Europe rebounded in September, climbing 1.4% from like-2013, following four months of sales declines.

Although a few countries such as Russia (-20.1%) and Turkey (-0.4%) did report losses in the month, many countries posted strong growth over year-ago. Germany, the region’s largest market, saw sales jump 5.4%, while Italy and the U.K. posted increases of 5.5% and 6.2%, respectively. France also saw deliveries climb 7.4% in September, marking the first year-over-year increase for the country since June.

South America was the only region to post a drop in sales in September with total deliveries down 8.7% from like-2013.

Brazil continued to struggle in the month with sales down 4.3% from year-ago levels. This was, however, the smallest drop in sales since February, and was the largest monthly volume recorded since January. Deliveries tumbled in Argentina and Chile as well, down 29.3% and 7.2%, respectively. Colombia was the region’s lone bright spot in the month with sales up 22.3%.

In September, South America held a 6.1% share of global vehicle sales.

Through September, 64.0 million vehicles were sold worldwide, up 2.4% from like-2013.

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