World Vehicle Sales Up 5% in November

Global vehicle sales increased 5.5% in November to 7.2 million units, led by strong gains in the Asia-Pacific region and North America.

Deliveries in Asia-Pacific accounted for 46.7% of worldwide sales in November, the largest market share for the region since January’s 49.5% portion. Deliveries totaled 3.4 million units in the month, up a solid 7.1% over year-ago.

China, Asia-Pacific’s largest market, saw sales soar to a new record in November with just over 2 million vehicles sold. Japanese automakers continued to display significant recovery in the country while interest in a territorial dispute over uninhabited islands waned, allowing for increased sales of the automakers’ most popular models.

Sales in Japan rose as well, up 16.1%, while India (-14.2%), South Korea (-6.0%) and Australia (-1.5%) posted declines over year-ago.

North America recorded the largest year-over-year gain among regions in November, up 8.3% with 1.5 million vehicles sold.

Deliveries in the U.S. rose for the second straight month, up 8.6% from like-2012 to 1.3 million units. Canada and Mexico also posted increases in November, up 6.2% and 8.5%, respectively. This was the first month Mexico saw volume exceed 100,000 units since December 2012.

Europe was able to maintain positive growth for a third consecutive month in November, up 1.9% over year-ago to 1.5 million units, accounting for 21.3% of global sales.

Sales in most of the region’s larger countries tumbled in the month, while many of Europe’s smaller markets recorded sales growth.

The Czech Republic (+3.5%), Portugal (+23.9%), Spain (+16.6%) and the U.K. (+9.1%) all posted gains over year-ago in November. Germany (-0.8%), France (-1.7%), Italy (-4.2%) and Russia (-3.6%), however, posted declines over like-2012, keeping Europe’s monthly increase to a minimum.

South America was the only region to post a drop in sales in November, down 1.0% over year-ago to 484,000 units, the smallest monthly volume since March.

Brazil sales fell for the second straight month, down 2.7% over like-2012 to 303,179. Venezuela also saw sales decline, plummeting 51.1% from November 2012, the largest year-over-year drop for the country since January 2010. Government restrictions on assembly plants have caused supply shortages in the country, hindering vehicle sales.

Growth in Argentina (+6.9%) and Chile (+14.1%) helped offset the decreases seen in Brazil and Venezuela, but were not enough to move South America into positive territory.

Through November, 78.1 million vehicles were sold worldwide, up 4.2% from like-2012.

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