Gavekal Capital: Vehicle Registrations: U.K. versus Europe

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Vehicle Registrations: U.K. versus Europe

Today's release of statistics on car registrations in the U.K. continues a string of positive data releases.  The cumulative total for 2013 (2.26 million) was the highest since 2007 (2.40 million) and up considerably from the low of just 1.94 million registrations in 2011.

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The preferred brands in December were Ford, Volkswagen, and BMW-- a trend seen throughout much of the year:

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Ford's Fiesta model has seen a spike in popularity as consumers' preference has shifted from medium-sized cars to the small and mini categories.
In contrast to the strength seen in the U.K., vehicle registrations in Europe are barely growing:

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While registrations in the Netherlands, Greece, Portugal, and Spain have grown quite strongly over the last year, most European countries have shown flat or negative demand for new cars:

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