2013 car sales forecast lowered by ratings agency

2013 car sales forecast lowered by ratings agency

Moody's Investors Service, the ratings agency that provides international financial research, has predicted that car sales in Europe will carry on with it's downturn during the rest of this year and continuing in 2013.

These predictions for a global vehicle sales slump are thought to be the result of languishing sales in China, and stagnant demand in Europe due to the ongoing eurozone crisis. Moody's expects the sale of light vehicles to drop by 8 per cent in Europe this year, which is lower than their prior estimation of 6.2 per cent. With weak markets and low customer confidence in Southern European countries such as Italy and Spain, it is thought that car sales will be grinding to a halt.

Moody's however remarks that the forecast for the automotive industry as a whole stays sound for the next year and a half, and that they would envisage a change of outlook to positive if light vehicle sales forecasts grow. A spokesperson for Moody's said "In 2013, we expect western European light vehicle demand to contract again for what will be the sixth consecutive year. We forecast demand to be down 3 per cent on 2012 compared with our [previous] forecast of 3 per cent growth, which was based on a mild economic recovery boosting demand."

This all comes as Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) have announced that the huge demand they were experiencing a few months ago has started to decline. JLR sales, especially for the Evoque, were at up by 13 per cent in August year-on-year, whilst in July they were up by a massive 41 per cent. Moody's has however said that premium brands such as JLR, BMW and Aston Martin could be relatively safe from it's sales forecasts, as they are less dependent on the European markets as a whole.

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