US market continues recovery in February
German manufacturers once more gain market shares
Berlin, 3 March 2010 In February 2010 the American light vehicles market continued its recovery. It recorded sales of 778,200 units, which was 13 per cent more vehicles than in the same month last year. This represents the fifth increase in sales in succession; since the beginning of the year they have risen by 10 per cent.
The German manufacturers also continued to expand their good position in February. German group brands sold a total of 59,700 light vehicles in February, an increase of more than 16 per cent. Their market share rose in the first two months of the year to 7.9 per cent, gaining 0.7 percentage points. Matthias Wissmann, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) stressed, "Over the last five years the German OEMs have continually pushed up their market shares. This trend is also continuing in the current year and demonstrates the growing success of the fuel-efficient new models of German origin in the USA.”
In February the German brands did very well above all on the light truck market. They clocked up growth of 46 per cent, which means that they expanded much more than the light truck market as a whole (+9 per cent). In the first two months of 2010 the German brands have shown the largest growth in percentage terms: they increased their overall sales by 21 per cent. The US Big Three recorded growth of 16 per cent, while the Asian manufacturers only managed to sell 3 per cent more light vehicles.
