China said to produce more cars than Europe for 2013

China is said to produce more vehicles than Europe for the very first time, in 2013. This shows the countries high rise with regard to the automobile industry and also highlights the difficulty the European vehicle market is going to face in the tough year ahead.

This year, China is said to make 19.6 million vehicles such as cars and small trucks, compared to 18.3m in Europe.

This rise in China is even more shocking due to the fact that Europe's projections include other nations like Turkey and Russia, as well as the European Union.

The previous year Europe made around 18.9 vehicles on estimate, which sat ahead rather comfortable of the 17.8m made by China. According to recent data, Europe will actually make just around a fifth of the whole World's cars, which has decreased from 2001 where it was recorded to make 35%. China's car production this year is said to be ten times higher than it was in 2000, where the share of auto manufacturing globally was 3.5%, as opposed to the 23.8% predicted for 2013.

Although this is quite a rise with regards to China, automotive expert Scott Corwin explained that even though the growth is said to be strong in both China and the US, these markets on their own actually wont have much effect in pulling the whole world forward. He also explained that although the recent rises in the car industry is looking to continue, many vehicle makers are actually struggling to make money due to tough competition. The market consists of a high number of small cars, with which profit margins are rather small.

Europe's fall in it's production is due to the steep decline it has seen in car sales since the financial crisis of 2008/2009. These problems caused extreme difficulty at a high number of vehicle makers, most notably Peugeot Citroen, which has cut almost 10,000 jobs and is lining up a rescue package.

Many car manufacturers who are in strong positions are even bracing themselves for a turbulent period. BMW chief executive Norbert Reithofer admitted that selling cars this year in Europe would remain extremely challenging. Volvo cars of Sweden chief executive Hakan Samuelsson also used the dramatic words “You can only pray”.