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Analysis
For the first time since China’s 2009 market explosion reversed a global downward trend, world vehicle sales are tracking near year-ago levels.
Auto makers sold 6.6 million vehicles in June, up just 0.9% over like-2010, marking the seventh consecutive month of year-over-year growth declines.
The most recent slide is tied directly to the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Repercussions of these disasters continue to impact inventory and sales in major markets, while also reflecting tapered growth in China, the world’s largest vehicle market, where June sales inched up just 1.8% from year-ago.
Japan sales plummeted 21.6%, but the performance marked an improvement over prior-month’s 27.8% decline and allowed the country to reclaim from India the No. 2 sales spot in Asia/Pacific. Deliveries in India rose 7.8% in the month.
Sales in the entire Asia/Pacific region slipped 3.8% to 2.56 million units, accounting for 38.8% of global deliveries, a slight increase over May’s 37.1% share.
Related document: World Vehicle Sales Summary
U.S. and Canada vehicle sales jumped 7.6% and 7.1% respectively, as low inventories of Japanese vehicles continued to put the brakes on North America’s brisk first-quarter growth rate.
With Mexico contributing 13.9% year-over-year growth, North America vehicle sales grew 7.8% to 1.3 million units, good for a 20% share of the world market.
