Europe's 2009 car production was lowest since 1996

ERJ staff report (DS)

Brussels -- Figures from ACEA show that total vehicle production in Europe (cars, trucks, buses) in 2009 decreased by 17.3 percent compared to 2008 and by 23 percent compared to the pre-crisis level of 2007.

Passenger car production dropped by 13 percent to 13.4 million units, or the lowest level in fourteen years. Truck production dropped to a historic low (-64 percent).Passenger car sales fell by 1.3 percent in 2009, with demand supported by fleet renewal schemes in 13 EU countries.

These and other data can be found in the latest ACEA Economic Report. The automobile industry's trade association publishes the Economic Report three times a year, giving additional insight in market trends and automotive production.

Production of vans and trucks plunged by 42 percent and 64 percent respectively. While the downturn somewhat eased in the last quarter of the year in the segment of van production, the continuing decrease severely hit truck production throughout the four quarters. Production of trucks was down 62 percent in the first quarter, 72 percent in the second, 64 percent in the third and 56 percent in the last. The segment of buses declined by 12 percent.

Germany remained by far the largest vehicle producer (5.2 million units) in the EU, despite a 13.8 percent decrease. Following a 20.2 percent drop, France fell to third rank while Spain (-14.6 percent), with 2.2 million vehicles, became the second largest manufacturing country in 2009. The UK (-33.9 percent) once again ranked fourth with more than 1 million units. Italy fell to seventh place, after the Czech Republic and Poland which accounted for 974,569 and 879,186 vehicles respectively. The Czech Republic and Slovenia were the only countries to see their total production increase, by 3.0 percent and 7.5 percent respectively. The steepest fall was recorded in Austria (-52.6 percent).

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Economic report from ACEA

Press release from ACEA