World Vehicle Sales Up 4.7% in April

Automakers delivered 7.52 million vehicles worldwide in April, a 4.7% increase over year-ago.

Europe sales jumped 7.0% over last year with 1.76 million units. Improvement was seen in every country except Russia (-8.7%) and Turkey (-8.8%).

Germany earned a 19.8% share of the region’s total with 347,840 deliveries, outpacing April 2015 by 8.8%. Italy sales were up 13.1% at 183,178, and Spain sales increased 21.0% to 117,738 units.

While Greece struggles with the refugee crisis and searches for debt relief, automakers saw a 22.9% increase in sales to reach that market’s highest April total since 2011 with 10,340 units.

Through April, Europe sales totaled 1.756 million, up 6.2% over same-period 2015 and a 22.7% world market share.

In the Asia-Pacific region, sales rose 6.0% over year-ago with 3.53 million deliveries, a 46.9% share of the global tally.

Japan, the world’s third-largest market, witnessed an uptick of 1.6% with 324,748 units and India sales soared 12.1% to 299,130. Sales in China outpaced year-ago 6.4% with 2.12 million units, a 28.2% share of the global total.

Year-to-date, automakers in the Asia-Pacific region have sold 14.88 million vehicles, a 3.5% increase over same-period 2015.

Sales also were strong in North America, up 4.6% to 1.86 million units. Significant gains in the U.S. (+3.2%) and Canada (+5.5%) were dwarfed by Mexico’s 24.5% increase. Recording 121,682 sales, Mexico posted its best-ever April.  

Through the first four months of 2016, North America sales were up 4.4% to 6.79 million units. The three countries combined for 22.6% of the world market.  

With low oil prices and high inflation remaining drags on the economy, South America witnessed a sharp 16.7% decrease in sales with 305,000 deliveries in April, continuing a long stretch of double-digit losses.

Sales plummeted in Brazil (-25.1%), Uruguay (-21.2%) and Venezuela (-89.9%). However, Argentina saw a 14.1% increase in sales to 58,650 units to soften the region’s downturn.

Sales in South America were down 19.6% for the first four months of the year, with 1.19 million deliveries. The region held 4% of the global market.

Worldwide, sales have passed the 30 million mark in 2016, 3.1% ahead of same-period 2015.

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