Based on POLK data, which are preliminary in some cases, passenger vehicle registrations were up around 6.1% in February against the year before. With a slight gain in January, total registrations in the first two months of the year were up by around 400,000 units over the year before, a rise of 3.3%.
Growth in the Asia/Pacific region was by far the strongest in February. While the Thai market continued to suffer from the after-effects of an incentive program, the losses were more than made up by gains in India, Japan and China. Altogether, sales in this region were up 9.3% in the month and 3.1% for the year-to-date.
The NAFTA region posted 1.6% growth in February, for a gain of 3.8% in the first two months of the year. Demand in the US has suffered at the start of the year due to severe winter weather in the northeast.
Sales in Latin America were up 9.0% in February, primarily due to growth in Brazil. This growth was able to make up for the weak market in Argentina.
Western Europe registrations climbed by 6.4%. The economy has started to show signs of improving, having an impact on passenger vehicle demand.
Eastern Europe was down 2.3% were down in February following poor sales in two key markets, Russia (down 2.0%) and Turkey (down 26.2%).
2014: New registrations expected to exceed 78.5 million units
Global new registrations are on course to set a new record in 2014, growing by about 4.0% over 2013.
New registrations in the Asia/Pacific region are expected to increase by more than 5.5% in 2014 compared to 2013. In China alone, sales in the current year will be up almost 1.5 million units from the year before.
New registrations in the NAFTA region are also predicted to continue to climb, to about 19.1 million units. Sales in the Latin American markets, on the other hand, will fall to about 6.0 million units, down 0.6%.
The slump in Eastern Europe is set to continue, as the region is forecast to fall 1.6%.
Although the recovery in Southern Europe will be some-what slower than originally expected, passenger vehicle demand in Western Europe will be up once again in 2014, 2.5%, as gains in key markets like Germany, Italy and Spain will make up for losses in the Dutch and French markets.
