World Vehicle Sales Up 4.9% in October

October global vehicle sales increased 4.9% over like-2014, the largest year-over-year gain of 2015, pushing volume to 7.57 million units.

Sales in Asia-Pacific grew 9.6%, the greatest increase for the region since May 2014.  Despite this leap, the 10-month tally was just 0.4% above year-ago. A total of 3.79 million vehicles in October accounted for 50.1% of worldwide deliveries.

The catalyst for the growth was China, where sales jumped 11.8% to 2.2 million units. Also pushing the region upward was India (+19.8%) and South Korea (+18.6%). The only big markets to post declines were Japan (-4.1%), Indonesia (-15.8%) and Thailand (-4.2%)

North America held 23.5% of the global market with 1.78 million deliveries. Sales surged 12.7% as all countries recorded gains over year-ago. The region is on track for full-year 2015 to surpass the record high 20.3 million vehicles sold in 2000.

Deliveries in the U.S. climbed 13.2%. Mexico continued to see double-digit growth, shooting up 17.9%. Canada posted a 4.9% increase.

Sales in Europe slipped in October, down 3.0% from like-2014, following four months of gains. New-vehicle registrations reached 1.56 million, leading to a 20.6% share.

Russia (-38.5%) and the U.K. (-1.4%) counteracted moderate gains by the other major countries. Germany, the region’s largest market, saw sales grow 1.7%, while Italy and France posted increases of 8.7% and 1.5%, respectively.

South America saw the biggest year-over-year drop in over five years, plummeting 26.8% to 352,000 deliveries, just 4.7% of the global tally.

Brazil continued to struggle in the month with sales down 37.4% from year-ago levels. Sales tumbled in Chile and Uruguay as well, down 10.4% and 10.5%, respectively. Colombia edged up just 0.1%, while Argentina showed the only significant growth with a 10.0% gain in registrations.

Through October, 72.49 million vehicles were sold worldwide this year, up 1.1% from like-2014.

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