European car sales rise led by Toyota, General Motors

[Ming]

European car sales rise led by Toyota, General Motors
15 Feb 2007
bbj.hu

European new car sales rose 1.1% in January, led by gains at Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp., as growth in Eastern Europe boosted purchases.

Sales increased to 1.29 million vehicles from 1.27 million units a year earlier, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers Association said in a statement today. Demand surged 17% in Eastern Europe, while the Western European market stagnated, the association said. Toyota, the world's second-largest carmaker, posted a gain of 21% in January to 82,404 vehicles, while GM, the world's largest, rose 7.6% to 132,958 units. „It really shows car buyers want strong reliability, which is where Toyota score wells, and stylish, `feel good' factors, and that has been delivered by GM,” Stephen Pope, head of equity research at Cantor Fitzgerald in London, said. „The design and marketing of the Astra and Corsa have been brilliant.”

GM's market share increased to 10.3% from 9.7%. A new Opel Corsa small car as well as low-priced Chevrolet models have helped GM win back customers from PSA Peugeot and Renault SA in the region.

Full Article Here: http://www.bbj.hu/main/news_22734_eu...al+motors.html

[tamatt27]

It's good to see GM doing quite well in some segments. Hopefully the US market will relate similarly.

[Geotpf]

Inexpensive GMDAT vehicles (badged as Chevys) are selling very well in Europe, especially Eastern Europe. Similiar to GM's success in China, in a way.

[tgagneguam]

Good news. I'd like to see the headlines read similarly-sans the stellar Toyota performance, of course-in North America.

Of course, it would have been nice if the absolute sales growth were slightly different; based on the percentage increases, it would appear that Toyota found 14,302 more buyers this January than January of 2005, whereas GM found 9,391 more. But, an increase is an increase.

[zete]

Originally Posted by tgagneguam

Good news. I'd like to see the headlines read similarly-sans the stellar Toyota performance, of course-in North America.

Of course, it would have been nice if the absolute sales growth were slightly different; based on the percentage increases, it would appear that Toyota found 14,302 more buyers this January than January of 2005, whereas GM found 9,391 more. But, an increase is an increase.

What we're seeing is the future: GM & Toyota fighting it out. GM needs time to get ther quality rep back and Toyota is leaning on quality and hoping that some style drops into their lineup. The winner in this regard will be the consumer who will have two major global players with high quality cars. With GM throwing in styling, it's even better as it'll force style out of Toyota or force Toyota to hire those with a sense of style.

I predict that as we move forward it'll be a dance for supremecy that's noted by the world's car journalists. It'll be GM vs. Toyota initially, with eyes on Hyundai coming quickly into 3rd, and subsequently a Chinese car firm in about 5 or 10 years. In other words, GM & Toyota have to not only snipe at each other but beware Hyundai coming up behind them. Europe has no major player in this regard. DC might have played but seem to not anymore. Nissan/Renault won't cut it, either. VW might be able to, but they need more capacity and more reach, neither of which they have at the moment.

It'll be fascinating to watch.

[HoosierRon]

Renault sold 102,290 units in January, a decline of 7.5%, as models aged. The company's market share declined to 8% from 8.7%.

Sales at Volkswagen AG, Europe's largest carmaker, declined 3.8% to 239,089, as sales at the namesake Volkswagen brand plummeted 9% to 120,988 units.

The rest of the German carmakers also declined in January, with DaimlerChrysler AG's sales dropping 2.3% and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's sales falling 1.1%.

I'd love to hear those two jackasses on that English car show explain this.

[macphisto]

Can Toyota sustain this? They've already got their engineering and design stretched to the max. It's also becoming more difficult to find young engineers and designers in Japan due to the low birthrate of the past several decades. They may have to rely on talent from elsewhere for their central design studio - and then there's the quality control issues.

Toyota's growth is most impressive, but if they can't solve some of their approaching problems then they could crash and crash hard across the world.

[Mikkoo]

Originally Posted by tamatt27

It's good to see GM doing quite well in some segments. Hopefully the US market will relate similarly.

In the short term I don't see GM picking up much market share.
Longer term wise with the much better engineered products hitting
the market there is hope for a turnaround in market share.

[01cavalier]

Originally Posted by zete

What we're seeing is the future: GM & Toyota fighting it out. GM needs time to get ther quality rep back and Toyota is leaning on quality and hoping that some style drops into their lineup. The winner in this regard will be the consumer who will have two major global players with high quality cars. With GM throwing in styling, it's even better as it'll force style out of Toyota or force Toyota to hire those with a sense of style.

I predict that as we move forward it'll be a dance for supremecy that's noted by the world's car journalists. It'll be GM vs. Toyota initially, with eyes on Hyundai coming quickly into 3rd, and subsequently a Chinese car firm in about 5 or 10 years. In other words, GM & Toyota have to not only snipe at each other but beware Hyundai coming up behind them. Europe has no major player in this regard. DC might have played but seem to not anymore. Nissan/Renault won't cut it, either. VW might be able to, but they need more capacity and more reach, neither of which they have at the moment.

It'll be fascinating to watch.

I do see GM and Toyota being the two major players, though the rest will have a long struggle if they are to become major players. most will likely be dealing with leftover market share.

[BigThreeForever]

Originally Posted by zete

What we're seeing is the future: GM & Toyota fighting it out. GM needs time to get ther quality rep back and Toyota is leaning on quality and hoping that some style drops into their lineup. The winner in this regard will be the consumer who will have two major global players with high quality cars. With GM throwing in styling, it's even better as it'll force style out of Toyota or force Toyota to hire those with a sense of style.

I predict that as we move forward it'll be a dance for supremecy that's noted by the world's car journalists. It'll be GM vs. Toyota initially, with eyes on Hyundai coming quickly into 3rd, and subsequently a Chinese car firm in about 5 or 10 years. In other words, GM & Toyota have to not only snipe at each other but beware Hyundai coming up behind them. Europe has no major player in this regard. DC might have played but seem to not anymore. Nissan/Renault won't cut it, either. VW might be able to, but they need more capacity and more reach, neither of which they have at the moment.

It'll be fascinating to watch.

Why Hyundai? What makes them so special?

[toronado10]

Now, hopefully, they dont start rebadging all the Chevys and Opels...

[Geotpf]

Originally Posted by toronado10

Now, hopefully, they dont start rebadging all the Chevys and Opels...

To what? Those two (with the first really being Daewoo at this point) are all GM Europe has, other than Vauxhall = Opel in the UK, plus Saab and small quantities of mostly American-made Cadillacs, Hummers, and Corvettes (a seperate brand in Europe). Opel is the mainstream brand; Chevy is the el cheapo Daewoo stuff (and this is the stuff that's really selling now, I assume due to low prices), Saab is a small step above Opel, and the other three are high-priced stuff from America. It's not like the US with at least three brands (Saturn, Pontiac, and Chevy) being "mainstream", plus another four being a tiny step up (Hummer, Buick, GMC, and Saab).

[DuSpinnst]

Originally Posted by Geotpf

Chevy is the el cheapo Daewoo stuff (and this is the stuff that's really selling now, I assume due to low prices), Saab is a small step above Opel, and the other three are high-priced stuff from America.

From this sentence alone I can take it you have not been to Europe (or have maybe only been there once or twice).

CHEAP cars ALWAYS sell in Europe. Why? Maybe when you have a 20% VAT tax on cars AND in most countries a SURCHARGE TAX for cars that suck too much fuel (Think Gas Guzzler Tax, only BIGGER and applying to MORE cars).

Saab has issues selling in Europe for the SAME reasons it has in the US, outside of Germany and Sweden the dealer network is NON-EXISTENT, and even in Germany it is still hard to find a Saab Dealer.

Cadillac, Hummer, and Corvette are not even on the Radar because they have absolutely ZERO distribution network next to MB and BMW (whose dealerships you FALL over).

I digress, but CHEAP (as in price) sells in Europe, because cars are so damn expensive. Chevy will ALWAYS do well because of this. The Korean's are also growing at a fast rate. The ONLY Japanese company to do well in Europe is Toyota.

[asim]

It looks like GM and Toyota are having all out war in other places of the world too. I remember from what someone said during that CBS nightly news thing about GM, it was something like: GM outsells Toyota in every market in the world. Every market but one, Japan. Then the person went on saying how the Japanese won't let American car companies to sell there.

[toronado10]

Originally Posted by Geotpf

To what? Those two (with the first really being Daewoo at this point) are all GM Europe has, other than Vauxhall = Opel in the UK, plus Saab and small quantities of mostly American-made Cadillacs, Hummers, and Corvettes (a seperate brand in Europe). Opel is the mainstream brand; Chevy is the el cheapo Daewoo stuff (and this is the stuff that's really selling now, I assume due to low prices), Saab is a small step above Opel, and the other three are high-priced stuff from America. It's not like the US with at least three brands (Saturn, Pontiac, and Chevy) being "mainstream", plus another four being a tiny step up (Hummer, Buick, GMC, and Saab).

Ever heard of stair step marketing? GM had Chevy, Pontiac, Olds, Buick, and Cadillac with different cars for the poor to rich spectrum. When GM fell apart was when it started making them all the same and rebadging engines and such. I just hope they don't make the mistake a second time in Europe.