World Vehicle Sales Up 3.6% in July

For a strong start to second-half 2016, global automakers delivered 7.11 million vehicles in July, a 3.6% improvement on same-month 2015.

Robust demand in the Asia-Pacific region, which held 46.7% of the world tally, was the catalyst for growth. Sales there were up 12.5% to 3.32 million vehicles.

Fueled by government incentives, China saw a major boost in sales (+23.3%) totaling 1.85 million units. With low inventory for the month, dealers were scrambling to meet demand. For the first seven months of the year, sales were up 9.9% with 14.68 million vehicles.

Several smaller countries in the Asia-Pacific region also increased sales in July. Vietnam recorded 36.2% growth and Singapore more than doubled results year-over-year with close to 9,000 units. Low interest rates combined with low vehicle ownership were primary factors in boosting demand in those developing nations.

Year-to-date, the Asia-Pacific region’s total outpaced 2015 by 6.5% with 25.50 million sales.

Though recent reports on the overall economy in the eurozone were positive, vehicle sales in Europe were down 4.3% in July, with 1.53 million units. Losses in large markets including France (-9.2%), Germany (-3.7%) and the U.K. (-0.3%) contributed to the fall. Several countries outpaced the region, including Spain (+4.1%) and Italy (+2.2%).

In Turkey, fewer than 60,000 vehicles (-31.3%) were sold in July when the country was in a state of emergency after an attempted military coup.

Through July, Europe sales outpaced last year’s by 5.6% with 12.10 million units.

In South America, sales were down 15.9% in July with 327,000 vehicles. Venezuela experienced an acute 87.6% drop to 193 vehicles and sales in Colombia fell 34.1%. While the world watched the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, vehicle sales fell 20.3% in Brazil to 181,000 units.

January-through-July sales in South America slid 17.2% behind same-period 2015 with 2.14 million units.

Dealers in North America sold 1.86 million units in July, a 0.8% uptick from same-month 2015. This small gain was carried by Mexico, where sales soared 17.4% above year-ago to 135,000 units. Sales were slow in the U.S., down 0.1% to 1.55 million, and Canada, down 3.0% to 176,000 units.

Year-to-date, sales in North America were up 2.3% over same-period 2015 with 12.4 million vehicles.

Worldwide, automakers sold 52.74 million units in the first 7 months of 2016, outpacing last year by 4.0%.

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