Automotive industry continues to underpin EU economic activity

The contribution of the European motor vehicle industry to the EU27 economic growth has been positive and sustained through the first nine months of 2007. Automotive production expanded dynamically (+5.1%) and reached nearly 14,6 million vehicles according to the ACEA autumn Economic Report. Demand for new cars increased by 1.2% at the end of October.

The European automotive industry is key to the strength and competitiveness of Europe. In the EU27, the car industry provides jobs to 2.3 million people and indirectly to another 10 million. Europe is the world's largest vehicle producer. Of the 50 million cars produced globally, one third are manufactured in the EU.

The first three quarters of 2007 showed a dynamic evolution in the production of motor vehicles. In total, 14,6 million vehicles were produced in the enlarged Europe between January and September 2007, a 5.1% improvement with regard to the previous year. Passenger cars accounted for 87% of the whole production, also increasing by 5% compared with the same period in 2006. A particularly solid growth was noted in the truck sector (+13.8%) thanks to a booming demand on the European markets. The production of light commercial vehicles also went up (+3.9%) whereas the production of buses declined by more than 25%. New EU member states accounted for 15% of EU motor vehicles production by the end of the third quarter of 2007.

With nearly 14.3 million new vehicles registered between January and September 2007, Europe saw its automobile demand improve by 1.5% compared to the same period in 2006. New passenger car registrations were 0.8% higher than last year, mainly thanks to a dynamic growth in the new member states (+15.5%). The new commercial vehicle market also topped the results from the previous year (+2.6%), an improvement sustained by an uninterrupted rise in van registrations throughout the year (+7.6%). The truck market (above 3.5 tonnes) remained on an upward trend (+2.2% January to September) thanks to a 40.6% increase in the new EU member states. The registrations of new buses and coached weakened by 8.4% over nine months.

Automotive demand forecasts for 2007 have been revised slightly upwards after new passenger car registrations picked up in October by 5.5%. Thanks to this solid result and an upturn during the summer, there were 1.2% more cars registered in Europe at the end of October 2007 than in the same period last year. The market for new cars is nevertheless expected to slow down during the next two months. In particular, new car registrations in Germany have been influenced by an increase in sales taxes in January 2007 and are likely to remain well below the late 2006 levels until the end of the year.

The general economic outlook of the enlarged EU has been fairly favourable despite the crisis on financial markets this summer. In the third quarter the gross domestic product went up by 0.7% in the euro area and by 0.8% in the EU27 compared to the previous quarter. On a yearly basis, the EU economic activity accelerated at a close to 3% pace (2.6% in the euro zone, 2.9% in the EU27). Taking into account the impact of the financial markets turmoil, the forecasts for 2008 and 2009 have been revised downwards by the European Commission. The economies of the main EU partners, US and Japan, are expected to grow slower than in the EU in 2007 and 2008 but they are likely to rebound in 2009.

The ACEA members are BMW Group, DAF Trucks, DaimlerChrysler, FIAT, Ford of Europe, General Motors Europe, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge, Porsche, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault, Scania, Volkswagen and Volvo. They yearly invest €20 billion in R&D, or 4% of turnover.