'Handful of models' driving European car sales recovery

A handful of popular models such as the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Fiesta, Fiat Punto, Fiat Panda and Renault Mégane are driving the fragile European car market recovery, says JATO Dynamics.

The automotive analysis company company says those models are the only ones to increase sales year-to-date - indicating the difficulty experienced by the car industry and the effect of scrappage schemes across the continent.

The European new car market was up 7.5 per cent in September on the previous year, and the year-to-date deficit reduced to 5.7 per cent.

The Golf sold 59,552 new vehicles in September - a 56 per cent increase over the same period last year - though Polo and Passat models fared less well, down year-to-date by 3.3 per cent and 15.8 per cent respectively.

Ford sold 51,291 new Fiestas in September, 63.9 per cent more than a year ago and over 12,000 more than the third-placed Opel/ Vauxhall Corsa.

Fiat's Punto and Panda sold strongly, with the Punto supermini recording a 66.2 per cent rise in sales for the month.

Renault’s new Mégane rounds off the top ten, with a rise of 90.4 per cent in September compared to the same month in 2008.

However, David Di Girolamo, Head of JATO Consult, remains unconvinced that these performances are sustainable: “We are still seeing the market recovery driven by small cars and new models – in other words, the popular choices in national scrappage schemes.

"This has clearly distorted the natural performance of some markets and models. Now the end is in sight for these incentives, we will be watching the market closely, to see if this recovery is sustainable."

Europe-wide only Volkswagen, Ford and Fiat have increased year-to-date sales, and by small amounts.

At a national level few countries have increased sales for 2009, though Germany has upped registrations by over 25 per cent thanks to its generous but costly scrappage scheme. Overall European sales are down by 5.7 per cent year-to-date on 20...

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