Europe .vs. America
11 Dec, 2007
12 Comments 
Europe is set to defeat the U.S. for the title of world’s largest auto market. With declining sales in the U.S. and a growth in Europe, the Americans’ taste for cars will soon be superseded by their European allies.
In Australia, 2007 will mark the first year on record when the auto market has managed one million new-car sales. In Europe and the U.S. 2007 will mark the first year each segment has managed to climb past sixteen million sales.
The first ten months of this year have the U.S. leading by just 10,980 units, with the overall figures showing:
- US: 13,583,559
- Europe: 13,572,669
What this massive European surge demonstrates is a strong sales growth in the UK, Italy and in central/eastern Europe. What is also shows is a declining U.S. market, due to low consumer confidence resulting from the recent credit crisis and rising fuel costs.
The U.S. market has also shown some expected trends this year. Toyota has been the sales leader in May, June, July and November. Something which has never happened before. Ford, which has been the top selling-brand in 19 of the past 20 years, appears defeated in third place.
The light-truck segment - the backbone of U.S. manufacturers - has plummeted in November, down 6.8 percent including crossovers and off a whopping 15.5 percent if you count crossovers as cars.
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December 11th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
US: 13,583,559 Europe: 13,572,669
Good on them Euros.
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December 11th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
I think Europeans will over the U.S. and it will stay that way for a long time to come.
Americans are getting sick of their own cars, kind of like Australians and Ford & Holden.
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December 11th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Eliot65, these sales numbers have nothing to do with where the cars are made…
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December 11th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
I think its more the reason people have more money to spend and want something far better than America can produce.
It just doesnt end with cars either.
Noone buys American designs except America, and Canada.
American design cannot be exported its actually uninspiring and rubbish.
To be fair American design was interesting from around 1950’s-70’s.
Their time has past.
VW, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, Fiat all have an edge somehow and a loyal market that actually grows into other countries.
GM and Ford used to, but this has dried up.Now theyre just bad swear words.
SUV era will be seen as Americas Peak.
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December 12th, 2007 at 7:53 am
Why does this have to turn into another brand war? It was an article about Europe overtaking the US for total auto sales, not what brand is selling better.
It’s scary to see that the poor perception of US cars still runs rife with the general public…
The reality is GM, Ford and Crysler now make cars just as reliable as the Asian brands…
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December 12th, 2007 at 9:40 am
“The reality is GM, Ford and Crysler now make cars just as reliable as the Asian brands…”
LOL…really? When you say asian do you mean China?
Adam are you 1)American 2)Work for Ford or GM 3)Work for Haliburton?
My comment was purely why european cars were selling more….Read please.
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December 12th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Elitist…
This article is about why Europe overall is selling more cars collectively than the US, not brands. Just total new vehicle sales…
Do some reserch about how American cars have caught up with asian cars in relation to reliability and get informed.
There is no need to mention what brands are selling in what country.
Did you even know that VW is NOT well regarded in the US and has very little share to speak off? That Lexus outsells all other luxury brands in the US, including BMW and Merc?
Read please.
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December 12th, 2007 at 11:05 am
This is the same as China’s car market gaining on Europe and the US overall too…a little like how our car market is exceeding 1 million units for the first time.
The US car market is declining due to uncertain economic conditions, not due to the type of cars being sold.
This article just happened to mention other trends that are occuring in the US market, which is not new news to anybody, simply reiterating what had already been mentioned many times in the past…
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December 12th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Lexus is japanese not American…
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December 12th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
And? My point is that this article is about auto markets that are growing and ones that are declining…
Nothing about brand of vehicles selling.
Have you grasped that yet? or would you like to argue some more?
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December 12th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
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December 12th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Im quite surprised that VW has little market share in the US. the jetta is pretty much the corolla of Canada
i think the biggest thing with yank cars is they are all moving there factories to mexico also they make more money on parts a freind of mine over in vancouver in 2003 bought a 2001 dodge dakota pickup that had done 70,000 kms once it reached 120k the transmission took a crap and had to get replaced.
thats possibly why the line between home grown american and european is thinning
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