According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), almost 14.51 million passenger automobiles were sold from January to October in China, making the country the largest passenger automobile market in the world. The figure is 5.8% higher than the 13.71 million passenger automobiles sold in the country from January to October of 2014.
By comparison, Europe’s passenger automobile sales over the first ten months of the year totaled 11.92 million units, up 8.2% from the previous year. Europe’s four largest auto markets, namely Germany, the UK, France and Italy, all posted positive year-on-year sales growth rates. Germany, the largest European market, posted sales of 2.68 million passenger automobiles from January to October of the year, up 5.1% from the previous year. Despite the recent VW emissions scandal, sales of diesel-powered vehicles continued to grow 6.0% this year. Diesel vehicles made up 48% of all automobiles sold in the country over the ten month timeframe. The UK, France and Italy posted respective positive year-on-year sales growth rates of 6.4%, 5.7% and 14.7% over the same time period.
By comparison, passenger automobile sales in Japan have been on a downward slope from last August onwards. Despite slight resurgences from April to June, passenger sales once again began to fall in July. A total of 2.29 million passenger automobiles sold in Japan from January to October, up 6.5% from the previous year.
The world’s largest passenger automobile market, China, posted year-on-year sales growth of 6.3% from January to October of this year. While sales fell in September, October saw double digit growth.
Fellow BRICS member India saw a total of 2.31 million passenger automobiles sold in the country from January to October, up a respectable 7.2% from the 2.15 million automobiles sold a year ago. October in particular produced the best sales growth rates the country has seen for the past four years.
On the other end of the spectrum, Russia, Brazil and South Africa all saw their sales decrease from January to October, with the former two suffering sales falls in the double digits. Russia, whose sales decreased 33.6% from January to October, has seen its sales growth fall for 21 months in a row. Passenger automobile sales in Brazil, meanwhile, have fallen for 20 months consecutively, with their current sales the lowest they have been for a decade. South Africa’s sales for the ten month period totaled 517,328 units, down 4.5% from the previous year.
Among other emerging markets, Mexico’s performance was especially strong. Passenger automobile sales in the country have grown for 18 months in a row. A total of 1.06 million automobiles were sold in the country from January to October, up 19.6% year-on-year.
