18 Jun 09 15:21
Scrappage promps revival
A leading provider of automotive data and intelligence says the European motor industry is showing signs of recovery following the introduction of scrappage schemes on the continent.
Jato Dynamics' monthly European new car market analysis for May 2009 has revealed that although the car market is down 13.1% year-on-year, there is a 2.4% improvement on the previous month's figures.
The scrappage schemes that have been introduced across a number of European markets are now beginning to have a positive effect where the incentives have had time to translate into sales.
The German market is now 39.7% up on May 2008 - a 20.3% improvement over last month's figures. France, meanwhile, is up 11.8% over the figures for April.
David Di Girolamo, Head of Jato Consult, said: 'If Germany provides a template for the other markets where scrappage schemes have been introduced, we may be at the very beginning of a period of recovery in Europe.'
'It's far too early to know what the sustained effects of the incentives will be, but at a time when the industry needs to see some rays of hope, it's encouraging to witness some improvement.".
The Jato figures show that the Volkswagen Golf continues to dominate the sales charts with sales up 32.1% on the same month last year. The Fiesta performs strongly too (up 56.0% in May) and the Fiat Punto,
Fiat Panda and Volkswagen Polo have all increased sales in May compared to the same month last year.
'It's interesting to look back at the top ten models as recently as 2007,' said Di Girolamo. 'At that point, there were three medium sized 'C' segment vehicles in the chart and two upper medium 'D' segment cars, including the BMW 3 Series and Volkswagen Passat. Today, upper medium cars have lost significant market share to the smaller models, and most recently it is the scrappage schemes that have been driving that trend.'
