New car registrations in Europe fell for the 13th month in a row in May as many companies struggled to move metal without the benefit of cash incentives from governments, industry data published today showed.
According to data from Brussels-based industry association ACEA, registrations fell 4.9% to 1.27 million vehicles in May, although most markets also had one fewer working day on average versus last year's comparative month.
Whereas consumers largely ignored luxury brands like Daimler's Mercedes-Benz, they cashed in on state subsidies in some markets to scrap old cars in favour of new, cheap models like Dacia's no-frills Logan saloon and Sandero hatchback where buyers could extract the most savings.
Renault's low-cost Romanian marque saw its new car registrations double in May despite Dacia's own domestic market shrinking by half, giving the brand a 2% share in Europe last month - equivalent to that of Japan's Nissan.
Alone in the Western European market, Dacia more than tripled its sales to nearly 20,000 vehicles. Hyundai of South Korea was the month's next best performer in Europe, gaining by a quarter in May, while the Volkswagen brand boosted its new car registrations by a healthy 9.2%.
Benefitting little from the scrappage schemes that has been propping up demand in the volume market, luxury and semi-premium brands experienced another overall disastrous month by comparison.
Alfa Romeo eked out only a 3.3% decline, while Mercedes and Audi both fell by about 9%. BMW's flagship brand saw a 15% decrease and Volvo dropped 20%.
Carmakers like Saab and Chrysler that are in court-administered restructuring or which have just emerged from it brought up the rear with declines of around 60% last month.
Opel, brought last month to the brink of insolvency as talks over a state-sponsored bailout nearly failed, saw its performance deteriorate by almost 10% over last year's May.
