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Europe-27 Feb/17 car regs: Poland drives growth
While growth slows in the Europe’s largest car markets, Poland continues to post positive results. In February, the country signaled the 23rd consecutive month of growth, with 38,427 units registered. The total was 14.2% higher than the volume seen in February 2016, and is certainly one of the highest increases among all the countries in Europe. Therefore it was the 7th largest market in the continent (excluding Turkey and Russia), behind Belgium and ahead of the Netherlands. The volume for the first two months of this year totaled 76,501 units, up by 16.9% compared to Jan-Feb 2016.
What’s behind this trend? according to Zbigniew Kozula, JATO’s Researcher for Poland, the reason is mostly related to the good economic situation. “63.2% of total market registrations corresponded to institutional purchases (companies), which posted a 9.3% increase over January 2017” commented Kozula, adding “this is due to investments and consumption growth and inflow of capital transfers from the EU and funds”. Polish economy is set to grow by 3.7% this year.
The market continues to be dominated by VW Group, whose 9,722 units counted for 25.30% of the market. Its volume was up by 9.9%, underperforming the market’s average, and losing 1 percentage point of market share, the highest drop. Registrations of compact and midsize cars from the group barely grew, at +0.2% and +1.3% respectively. In contrast, FCA was the biggest winner, with its market share jumping from 2.72% in Feb/16 to 4.14% last month. The success of the Fiat Tipo in the compact segment has brought more clients to FCA.
The segment analysis shows that SUVs continue to drive growth, with their volume up by 30.3%, and counting for 28.89% of total registrations. In the opposite side the city-cars, midsize and compact cars recorded the highest market share drops. In the model ranking, the Opel Astra almost dethroned the Skoda Octavia as it continues to climb positions. The Renault Clio also shined, as well as the Dacia Duster, Opel Corsa, Volvo XC60 and Fiat Tipo. The new Toyota C-HR almost hit the top 10 (20 units below #10 Skoda Rapid), posting one of its best results among all European markets.
