As we posted
earlier this year, car sales in the European auto industry have
been on the upswing for nearly two years. This continued in July as
sales rose in Germany, France, Italy, and
Spain. Spain posted the biggest gain, with a 24 percent
increase in car sales, marking 23 straight months of growth. Sales
in Italy also showed a substantial increase of 15 percent in
July.
As a result of the continued strength of the European auto
market, European auto makers such as VW have pushed to the lead in global sales, and
carmakers such as Volvo increased their earnings goals
for the year.
On the other side of the globe,
China auto sales continued to slow down. Chinese auto sales fell in July, falling to a 17-month low. GM, Ford, and Nissan all
saw decreased sales in China for July. Automakers
including VW and BMW indicated that slumping sales and industry
pricing in China could impact overall profitability. China's move to devalue its currency is further predicted to
