It's a challenging time to be a car manufacturer. Safety demands and legislation have been faced for years, but in recent times emissions control has moved significantly up their agenda. On top of this, there are other environmental demands placed on them as they are undoubtedly large industrial producers; so energy consumed and wastage are naturally scrutinised. In addition, there are other pressures to cope with - the unpredictability of global economies and markets being just one of these. The UK car market did OK last year, with a five per cent rise in sales consistent with the global sales rise of seven per cent, even though this is still 14.9% below the pre-recession levels of 2007. In numbers, that is two million cars sales in 2012, from 2.4 million in 2007. But Europe as a whole suffered a seven per cent decline and many manufacturers suffered greatly, losing billions of euros within this market.
展开▼
