Global car market
13.12.2016
S o calculates PwC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) for 2017 in Europe with a sales increase of 2.7 percent - which means a noticeable slowdown compared to the 6.8 percent from this year. The outlook for the US market is even more cautious, in which sales figures in 2017 could even shrink by 0.5 percent in view of rising interest rates.
Emerging markets are becoming more important again
Also in China this year's plus of around 14 percent can hardly be repeated. 'On the contrary - if the tax breaks for vehicles with small engines expire as planned on December 31, there is a risk of a real slump in the first half of the year,' warns Christoph Stürmer, Global Lead Analyst at forecasting specialist PwC Autofacts. The simultaneous slowdown in the three major core markets means that car sales in the above-mentioned markets will only increase by around 3.1 percent in the coming year - one of the weakest values since the financial crisis.
Car manufacturer, Those who have recently benefited from the recovery in the USA and Europe will have to focus more on the emerging markets again when looking for sales opportunities, concludes the PwC forecast.
SUVs continue to boom
For the current year, PwC anticipates a total new registration volume of over 17 million vehicles in Europe. The five largest markets alone - Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain - account for 12.4 million new registrations. In Italy in particular, car sales have developed rapidly with an increase of around 40 percent since 2013, while Spain is expected to record an increase of more than 11 percent. With 3.35 million cars (plus 4.4 percent), Germany defends its position as the largest European car market, while Great Britain grew by 2.1 percent to 2.69 million cars despite the Brexit vote. For 2017, however, PwC is forecasting a decline for the UK: “The fall in the pound is causing new cars to become more expensive in Great Britain,” explains Kuhnert.
Above all, the demand for off-road vehicles (“SUVs”) was evident Dynamic again in 2016. Measured against the low point during the euro crisis in 2012, registrations have almost doubled from 1.76 million to 3.37 million vehicles. However, the losers in this development are the “Multi Purpose Vehicles” - also known as “MPVs” or “Mini-Vans” - whose sales fell by 15.8 percent to 1.12 million in the same period.
