Ford, Peugeot and Toyota tip European market

Ford, PSA Peugeot Citroën and Toyota dragged sales of cars in Europe to a new low in January, starting 2013 with a drop of 8.5%, reported yesterday the European Automakers Association. The plates issued fell for 918,280, said the Brussels-based institution. This was the worst January in the series, begun in 1990, because the measures of austerities and unemployment affected consumer spending.
Ford, which is closing three factories in Europe to cut production capacity, saw sales plummet 26% last month to 61,544 cars. Peugeot and Toyota had dropped 16% each, the second largest among the big automakers. This drop "confirms a weak start for 2013," Credit Suisse analysts said in a note.
"Hopes of improvement in earnings and cash flow in the second half are misplaced," he opined. After falling in 2012 for a minimum of 17 years, European demand for cars should fall further this year, pressing even more mass market brands between overcapacity and price disadvantage.
Most manufacturers provides that the European automotive market will fall between 3% and 5% in 2013.
The Germany in particular is weighing on this prediction. After you have shown resistance to much of last year's decline, the largest automotive market in Europe is in steep decline, having fallen 8.6% in January. Despite weak demand in Germany, Volkswagen increased participation in European sales.
The automaker's sales fell 5.5%, a fall less than the entire market, since the luxury brand Audi had just 2.1% downturn in plates issued. The two German rivals Volkswagen had even greater resistance. BMW had high of 9.4% in sales of the brand, while the Mercedes-Benz, Daimler, sold 4.7% more. Sales of Dacia — low-cost brand of Renault — have risen 8.5 percent, limiting the group to fall 6.1%. The problematic brand Renault bounced back last month with a high of 12% in the French market, according to a survey at dealerships by La Lettre VN.
The French automotive market received 3.5% fewer orders, according to the publication, in a sign that sales may stabilize in the coming months.