GlobalData’s latest analysis of world markets reveals that although the world’s vehicle market was up by 11% in February compared to last year, underlying demand fell back against last month’s running rate.
The increase on last year’s pace reflects improving supply, while the dip against last month is partly due to the timing of the Chinese New Year and tax changes.
The Global Light Vehicle (LV) selling rate in February fell to 81 million units/year from January’s figure of 83 million units/year. While global supply-side constraints remain a drag on the sector’s recovery, raw monthly registrations increased to 6.5 million units—a growth of almost 11% year-on-year (YoY).
The Chinese market in February was affected by the Chinese New Year and the termination of tax incentives in 2022, causing the market’s rate to slow down to 21.4 million units/year, which is the lowest rate since the Shanghai lockdown in April 2022. In YoY terms, sales increased by 16% against a low base, due to the timing of the Chinese New Year.
A summary of market developments in the world’s regions follows.
North America
US LV sales grew by 9.6% YoY in February, to 1.1 million units. Incentives are starting to increase modestly, at US$1,415 last month (+11.0% YoY).
Canadian LV sales fell 4.0% YoY, to 101k units, with the selling rate estimated to have declined to 1.7 million units/year in February, from 1.8 million units/year in January. In Mexico, sales increased by 28.4% YoY in February to around 102k units.
Europe
The West European selling rate rose from 12.5 million units/year in January to 13.4 million units/year in February.
The East European selling rate also picked up from January to February.
Other Asia
In Japan, the selling rate slowed to 4.6 million units/year in February but averaged a solid 4.7 million units/year in the first two months of this year. In Korea, the February selling rate reached a near two-year high of 1.8 million units/year.
South America
Brazilian LV sales fell by 0.8% YoY in February, to 120k units. In Argentina, sales are estimated to have increased by 5.6% YoY in February, to 28.3k units.
