Carmakers in slow lane as US sales drag
A strong crop of results from carmakers Nissan, Hyundai and Volkswagen yesterday failed to dispel fears of slowing demand from major markets such as China and the US.
A patchy recovery in the US is a big industry concern, in particular for Japanese carmakers, which rely heavily on that market for profits.
And in Europe carmakers cheered by signs that underlying demand was coming back as scrapping schemes ground to a halt are now fearful that austerity measures including tax hikes in many markets will slow down the recovery.
Volkswagen, Europe’s largest carmaker, said it was confident it would improve sales and margins in the full year, but warned the strong growth it saw in the first half “would not continue undiminished”.
Also in Germany, automotive parts supplier Continental reiterated its confident outlook
after a strong first half.
Andre Lacroix, chief executive of multinational car dealer Inchcape, echoed the uncertainty. “We are seeing an uneven global recovery: very strong recovery in Asia-Pacific and emerging markets overall, and a bit more moderate growth in mature markets,” he said. “This is still a very volatile market out there and we are cautious.”
German industrial group Man returned to profitability in its core European truck operations in the second quarter as promised and forecast a significant increase in group order intake for the full year.
Man was the latest in a string of truckmakers to sound an optimistic note, showing that the sector is getting back on its feet after demand for new trucks halved virtually overnight when the global economic slowdown struck. Industry leader Daimler Trucks has raised its operating profit forecast twice this year, while Sweden’s Scania posted a record operating margin of 17 per cent.
Nissan reported its strongest quarterly operating profit in more than two years as sales surged, but it left its cautious guidance unchanged amid an increasingly murky outlook for demand. South Korea’ s top automaker, Hyundai, beat forecasts but warned global car demand will likely ease in the second half due to a slowdown in key markets like China, Europe and the US.