There were more than 2017 million cars registered in Europe in 15, with a growth of 3,3% compared to 2016. However, the year ended with a drop of 4,8% in December (just over a million cars).
The contraction in the last month of the year involved all European countries except Spain, which recorded an encouraging +6,2%. Among the worst performers was the United Kingdom, which closed the year with nine consecutive months of sharp decline, down by 14,4%.
According to data from Acea - the association of European manufacturers - sales are increasing overall in all the main markets, with the exception of the United Kingdom.
Looking at the annual results, Italy is among the best in Europe, with a 7,9% increase in registrations over the twelve months, followed by Spain, France and Germany. Weighing on the United Kingdom, which closed down for the first time in six years, is the Brexit factor and the introduction in 2017 of a tax connected to CO2 emissions.
The most important car market among the 28 EFTA countries is confirmed as the German one, but the most dynamic one is the Italian one – still far from pre-crisis levels, in the last four years it has however had a growth of 51% compared to the minimum of 2013 – as confirmed by the Promoter Study Center.
Among the car manufacturers, FCA outperformed the market in 2017, achieving a better result than the market with almost 1,45 million registrations, and a growth of 5,2%. This is the best year ever for the brand, which managed to do better than the record set in 2016.
The market share of the group led by Marchionne rose from 6,6% to 6,7%, rising to fourth place among the manufacturers and overtaking Ford. Volkswagen confirms its first place (+2,3% over the year), followed by PSA and Renault.
Looking at the individual brands, albeit also marked by the general contraction in December, Fiat closed the year with a 4,3% growth in registrations; +3,4% for Jeep, Alfa Romeo even better, +27,2% over the year, the highest growth of all manufacturers.
FCA was driven by the excellent performance of the top models of the various brands of the group: 500X, 500L and Jeep Renegade were confirmed among the top ten Europeans in their segments. The Fiat Panda and Tipo models are also growing.
After Marchionne's statements from Detroit, the stock gains about 1% in Piazza Affari. FCA gained more than 70% in 2017 by achieving the best performance of the FtseMib, inaugurating the new year with a record rise of 29%, approaching the threshold of 20 euros per share.
At the European level, 2017 was also positive for BMW, Volkswagen and Renault.
