Optimism for 2010 as European car buyers end the year on a high

(ollirg)

Consumer spending on new cars jumped in the final month of 2009, according to European results released January 4, increasing optimism for US sales figures that are due to be released Tuesday.

French passenger car sales rose 48.6 percent year on year from 2008, according to the French Car Makers Association ( Comité des Constructeurs Français d'Automobiles). A total of 228,481 cars were sold in December, closing a year that saw 2,268,730 sales in total, a 10.7 percent jump from 2008 and the highest annual rise since 1990. The 1000-euro bonus car scrappage scheme in France ended on December 31.

Both Italy and Spain also reported sales figures Monday, Spain stating that 90,553 units were sold in December, a 25.1 percent rise from December 2008. The Italian Associazione Nazionale Filiera Industria Automobilistica also released positive figures, with a 68 percent year-on-year rise in December, bringing the annual total to 2,335,000 vehicles, 15 percent up on last year.

The news has boosted expectations for US results, due to be released Tuesday. Motoring analyst TrueCar Inc has forecasted that December light vehicle sales will rise nearly 5 percent from 2008, a total of 940,076 units. Overall, it believes that 10.2 million vehicles will have been sold in 2009 before a recovery in 2010 with 11.4 million vehicles sold.

"Though a brutal year for auto sales, manufacturers continue to see the glimmer of the light at the end of the tunnel," said Jesse Toprak, VP of Trends and Insights for TrueCar. "It was about a year ago when sales started to drop off due to the souring economic climate. We have come a long way in the last 12 months but it appears that the recovery in 2010 will be slower than we anticipated earlier in the year."

Meanwhile, GM announced Monday that its sales in China have jumped 66.9 percent in 2009, an all-time high for the firm. Consumer analyst J.D. Power and Associates predicted in December that total Chinese car sales will outstrip those in the US for the first time this year, with 12.7 million sales in 2009.