With the conclusion of 2008, market players have been expressing concerns about possible further declines in sales of automotive vehicles in December 2008 and throughout 2009. It is anticipated that the US could sell around 852,000 automotive vehicles in December 2008, down 38.4 percent year on year. The total sales volume in in the US in 2008 is expected to slightly exceed 13 million units, while the 2009 sales volume has been predicted at 11.50 million units.
During the first eleven months of 2008, Germany only sold about 2.86 million automotive vehicles, down 1.5 percent year on year. It is expected that the sales volume in this country will not exceed 3 million units in 2009.
Also during the first eleven months of 2008, the sales volume of imported vehicles in the Russian market declined by 15 percent - the first decline seen over the past four years. It is expected that Russia will sell 2.6 million units in 2009, down 8.8 percent year on year. Before the global financial crisis kicked in, Russia's Federal State Statistics Service had estimated that the automotive vehicle sales volume in 2008 would reach about 3 million units and increase to around 4 million in 2009. However, owing to the subsequent developments in the market, the targets of 3 million and 4 million autos have now been pushed back to the years 2010 and 2012 respectively.
Turing to Japan, it is thought that the sales volume of automotive vehicles in this market in 2008 will register a fourth consecutive yearly decline and hit its lowest level of the past twenty-six years. In 2008, twelve Japanese automotive producers cut production by a combined 1.9 million vehicles on a global basis. For 2009, demand for new vehicles is estimated at 4.86 million units, down 5.5 percent year on year.
According to data released by the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), the sales volume of Indian saloon cars was 83,059 units in November 2008, down nearly 20 percent year on year - the biggest monthly decline of the past eight years. In November, the decline in the sales volume of commercial vehicles was as high as 50 percent.
According to the data released by the auto manufacturing corporations in South Korea, the top five auto producers in the country, including HYUNDAI Motor, KIA Motor, GM Daewoo, Renault Samsung Motors and SSANG YONG Motor, sold a total of 406,051 units in December 2008 in the global markets, down 13 percent year on year. Meanwhile, their sales volume in the domestic market was down 23 percent to 86,928 units while the export volume declined by 9.8 percent to 319,123 units.
In Spain, a huge decline of 49.9 percent was observed in the sales volume of automotive vehicles in December, while the overall sales volume in 2008 dropped by 28.1 percent, constituting the biggest historical yearly decline.