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Greece Autos Report Q4 2008

http://www.companiesandmarkets.com/Summary-Market-Report/greece-autos-report-q4-2008-58415.asp

Report Summary

The Greek automotive industry has remained quite resistant to the ongoing global financial crisis, unlike its other Western European counterparts. However, as BMI explains in its latest Greece Automotives Report, the industry may not remain completely insulated from the turmoil. The Greek economy began to slow signs of cooling down at the beginning of this year, a trend which BMI expects to have continued in the second half of 2008.

In the first 10 months of 2008, vehicle sales were 1.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) lower for passenger cars and almost 1.8% y-o-y lower for the commercial vehicle segment, according to Greek Association of Motor Vehicle Importers Representatives (AMVIR) estimates. Clearly the trend is much better than the overall industry contraction of nearly 5.3% across all the European markets.

BMI has identified downward risks to any robust GDP growth in the medium term. While keeping our GDP forecasts limited to 3.3% for 2008 and to 2.4% for 2009, we expect the economy to maintain a longterm growth trend of around 3% annually, once it begins recovery from the financial turmoil. Vehicle sales have therefore been restricted to 302,946 units in 2008, down from 306,875 units sold last year. We do not foresee any recessionary trend in Greece for the next year, which means that the market can be expected to pick up pace towards the end of 2009. As such, BMI expects auto sales to reach 303,239 units in 2009, marginally above the 2008 level.

In terms of the competitive landscape in Greece, Toyota maintained its lead both in the passenger cars and the commercial vehicle segments. The manufacturer occupied close to 10% and 19% market share in the two segments respectively. In terms of passenger car sales, Opel followed Toyota to take the second position with sales totalling 19,462 units (market share 7.9%) in the first 10 months of this year. The third most important player in the market was Volkswagen (VW) as its sales reached 18,905 units, giving it a market share of 7.7%. In the commercial vehicle market, Nissan and Ford settled at the second and the third positions with a market share of 18% and 15% respectively between January and October 2008.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................5
SWOT Analysis................................................................................................................................................6
Greece Autos SWOT ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Greece Economic SWOT....................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Greece Business Environment SWOT ................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Industry Developments – Europe ...................................................................................................................8
Table: National Allocation Plans For 2008 to 2012 (in mn tones) ........................................................................................................................ 8
Europe Battles For Hybrid ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Tougher Safety Norms Soon..................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Vehicle Manufacturers Start To Tackle Carbon Emissions...................................................................................................................................... 13
Table: European Vehicle Manufacturers, Technologies For Reducing CO2........................................................................................................ 14
SMEs Affected By REACH....................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Table: Key Elements Of REACH......................................................................................................................................................................... 17
Market Overview............................................................................................................................................18
Industry Developments ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Industry Forecast Scenario ...........................................................................................................................19
Table: Greece, Passenger Car Sales – Historical Data And Forecasts ............................................................................................................... 19
Macroeconomic Forecast Scenario..............................................................................................................21
Table: Greece - Economic Activity ..................................................................................................................................................................... 23
Competitive Landscape................................................................................................................................24
Key Players In Passenger Cars. Jan-Jun 2008 (units sold) ................................................................................................................................ 24
Table: Top 10 Best-selling Mini Cars, January-March 2008.............................................................................................................................. 26
Table: Top 10 Best-selling Small Cars, January-March 2008 ............................................................................................................................. 27
Table: Top Ten Players In the Light Commercial Vehicle Segment. Jan-Jun 2008 (units sold)........................................................................... 28
Company Monitor..........................................................................................................................................29
Toyota Hellas........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 29
BMI Forecast Modelling................................................................................................................................30
Sources .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 31