The world’s vehicles production reached 89.5 million in 2014, +3% compared to 2013, The Asian and Middle East region in both production (47.4 million, +3%) and sales (42.6 million, +6%), accounting for around 50% of the global figures
OICA announced that the world’s vehicle production reached 89.5 million units in 2014. This represents an increase of +3% from 2013. Since 2005, the increase is +34%. The sales, thus calculated only on registered vehicles (that are not including military, police and other officials), reached 88.2 million in 2014, with the same increase as production of +3%. The geographical split shows different situations in the world (all data compared to 2013). The European figures (EU 28 + EFTA) are still very much below the pre-crisis levels, even though a clear recovery can be noticed. Production reached 17.0 million units (+5%) and sales 14.9 million units (+6%). Production figures are on their way to each again the more usual levels of around 18 million vehicles. When it comes to sales, some recovery could be observed last year, but we are still well below the pre-crisis levels. For the rest of Europe, including Russia and Turkey, there is a marked decline both in production, 3.4 million vehicles (-7%) and in sales, 3.5 million units (-6%). There was a clear increase after the 2008-2009 crisis, but the tendency is now again clearly negative since 2 years.
The Asian and Middle East region in both production (47.4 million, +3%) and sales (42.6 million, +6%), now account for around 50% of the global figures. China is still the strongest player in this region and had a +7% increase both in production and sales, last year. Some Asian markets however declined, such as Thailand (by -30%) and Indonesia (with a modest decline of -2%). North America (NAFTA) continues to perform strongly in 2014. Production in the region has even exceeded pre-crisis levels with 17.4 million units and sales figures are clearly positive with 19.9 million, having almost returned to record levels. In all three markets of the region, USA, Canada and Mexico, the trends are positive. In Central and South America, after several years of steady increases, 2014 saw a marked decline, with sales decreasing by -11% and production by -17%. In particular, the Argentinean market completely collapsed in 2014, with a 36% decline in sales, and -22% in production. The African production and sales continued their steady increase. The figures remain modest, production 0.71 million (+11%) and sales 1.56 million (+3%), but the tendency is quite interesting, especially when taking into account their stability over time, which enables a clearer long term vision. OICA calculated that the world’s average rate of vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants is now 174, + 21% since 2005