By GEOFF BARTON | Automotive News

LONDON - The BMW brand was a surprise loser as auto sales in Western Europe fell again in November.

BMW sales fell 16.4 percent in the month, to 35,831 units, largely due to the continued weakness in Germany, BMW's home market.

Sales of the BMW 5 series also are declining as BMW prepares for a new model in 2003.

But buoyant sales of the new Mini helped limit the damage to the BMW group as a whole, which saw its market share fall to 4.2 percent from 4.4 percent in November 2001.

For the first 11 months, BMW group sales are 14.7 percent ahead of last year - but this is entirely thanks to the Mini.

Rival luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz also lost ground as its sales dropped 8.6 percent in November.

According to ACEA, the European automakers' association, sales of vehicles in Western Europe fell 6.2 percent in November from a year earlier, to 1.06 million units. The November decline followed a 2.1 percent drop in October.

The European sales total through November stood at 13.4 million, a 3.8 percent fall from the same period in 2001.

Sales in Europe are expected to end the year at 14.3 million. That would be a decline of 3.4 percent from last year's 14.8 million.

The troubled Fiat group also suffered in November. Sales of the Italian carmaker's three main brands - Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia - each plummeted by more than 20 percent. The group as a whole, which had a market share of 9.3 percent in November 2001, saw its share drop to 7.7 percent last month.

Japanese carmakers - including Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi - were among the few winners in November.

But the biggest Japanese gain was posted by Mazda, which has seen strong sales for its new Mazda6. Mazda sales rose 32.6 percent in November.

Overall, Japanese carmakers' European market share rose to 11.4 percent from 9.5 percent in November 2001.

Ford Motor Co. was one of the only other groups to report higher sales, up 0.4 percent in November, thanks to healthy sales at Land Rover and Volvo.

But Ford group sales are still 2.0 percent down for the year to date.

Of the five main markets - France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and Italy - only Italy showed an improvement in November.

Italian sales rose 1.3 percent to 181,100 thanks to attractive incentive programs, trade-in bonuses and scrappage initiatives offered by dealers.

 

its ok, we will OWN 2003 :P

 

The Germans HATE the new styling. They are very traditional. Other countries may be open to Bangles styling but in my EVO, top Gear and Car Euro mags, they HATE the styling of the new cars.

 

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