MOSCOW (MRC) -- Global car sales advanced a slower-than-expected 2% in the first half of 2015, but remain on target to climb to the sixth consecutive annual record, according to new data from Scotiabank, said Canplastics.
Purchases are being supported by strengthening job creation in developed markets, improving household balance sheets, low interest rates, and rising consumer confidence across much of the globe, Scotiabank said in its new Global Auto report. "Despite periodic bouts of financial market volatility, most economic and financial risk indicators still remain supportive of the ongoing economic expansion," said report author Carlos Gomes.
Sales gain were greatest in Western Europe, the report said, with car sales in that region accelerating to an 8% year-over-year increase in the first half of 2015, and approaching a full-year total of 13 million units for the first time in five years. "Western Europe has become the auto industry’s growth leader in 2015, with volumes advancing in fifteen of the eighteen countries in the region," Gomes said. "The improvement reflects strengthening labour markets and household balance sheets. Wages and salaries across the euro zone are advancing at the fastest pace since 2008. Income gains are much stronger in the United Kingdom, leading to a record 1.4 million cars sold in the first half of 2015, exceeding the 2004 peak."
Purchases are also strengthening among the new EU members in Central and Eastern Europe, Gomes noted, with eight of the twelve countries posting double-digit gains this year.
The report also noted record volumes in North America, with passenger vehicle sales in North America advancing by 5% year-over-year through July, and full-year volumes expected to surpass 20 million units for the first time on record. The report identified strengthening labour markets as driving the gains across the NAFTA region.
Strengthening economic activity, improving household balance sheets and significant replacement demand have led Scotiabank to increase its 2015 auto sales forecast for the United States to 17.2 million units, from 17 million previously.
Turning to Asia, the report noted that sales and economic growth are only moderate in that region, with the result that car sales in China have softened from the double-digit pace of the past decade, dampening overall gains across Asia and prompting concern about the outlook.
Auto sales in India have advanced by 6% this year, the report said, and will be supported going forward by an easing bias for monetary policy, strengthening economic growth and declining fuel prices.
As MRC informed earlier, China’s car makers started off the year on the right foot, but now things have gotten wobbly. Sales have been in decline month over month in the world’s leading auto market. Chinese auto makers have been combating the slowdown by cutting production and lowering prices.
MRC