World's most latest Automotive Industry size and growth business information, Automotive Business research, Automotive Industry surveys, Automotive Market analysis Checkonomics. Checkonomics research team updates data daily on – Automotive, Global Automotive Industry, Automotive News, automotive business ideas, automotive business reports etc.

Major markets

Live Data Updated - 02-Mar-2012 Buy Now

As of 2006, major markets for the automobile industry include the UK, the US, Europe (excluding the UK), Japan, China and India. These markets together accounted for 81% of global automobile sales (passenger cars and commercial vehicles) in 2005. The US is the largest market, accounting for 29% of global sales, closely followed by Europe (excluding the UK), which accounts for 24% (Figure 7.0) .

In 2008, the total global automobile sales stood at 65 Million units with the US leading the global automobile sales. However in 2009, China became the world’s No.1 automobile market, leaving US behind which till then used to be the largest automobile market. China’s sales of passenger cars, buses and trucks rose to 13.6 million in 2009, whereas at the same time the US automobile sales decreased by 21% to 10.4 million.

Since the global financial crisis of 2008, the traditional automobile markets like US, Western European countries and Japan were experiencing falling automobile sales. In the US, in 2008 the car sales stood at 13.2 million units, which was 18% below the 2007 level and the Big Three (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) were nearing bankruptcy. In the last quarter of 2008, the European auto markets collapsed and the automobile sales in Japan were the lowest since 1974.

In 2009, as a result of economic downturn there were bigger drops in the US and the global auto sales. In US, people are putting off vehicle purchases due to tighter credit conditions, declining vehicle utility and general economic stress. Market analysis firm J.D. Power, predicted that the European automobile sales will decline by 3.1% to 21.3 million units in 2009. Developing auto markets in the Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) economies were expected to be affected less severely and were looked upon as the auto industry’s hope in the light of falling auto sales elsewhere. The global economy was expected to recover by 2010, which would bring a recovery in the global automobile market.

Economic growth & automobile sales

Live Data Updated - 02-Mar-2012 Buy Now

There are numerous factors that drive growth in the automobile industry and the affect of these drivers can vary according to the maturity of the market. There is a strong correlation between GDP growth and automobile sales growth. For instance, with high GDP over the last five years in India and China, not only has automobile sales growth been high, but it has far exceeded GDP growth. In the more saturated markets of the US, Europe, Japan and the UK, growth in sales has been lower than the comparatively smaller GDP growth rates (this has only been the case since 2003 in the UK). There can be little doubt that high GDP growth forecasts for India and China and the resultant increasing disposable income over the next five years will significantly alter their percentage share of the global market for automobile sales.

A strong economy is the key to the growth of automobile sector. In the late 2008, as a result of global financial crisis, most of the countries across the world experienced a fall in their economic growth rates, which was one of the chief factors contributing towards fall in global automobile sales. In 2009, the US experienced a negative GDP growth and in the same year its automobile sales fell to 27-year low of 10.4 million units. Even European automobile markets also experienced a drop in automobile sales in 2009, as the European economies were engulfed with lower GDP growth.

In India and China, following the 2008 financial crisis, there was a sudden slowdown in the automobile sales which threatened to shrink the global auto market. As the global auto markets facing tough times had come to rely on India and China to pick up the slack in the Western countries. China’s low GDP growth in late 2008 considerably slowed its explosive automobile market.