European car sales growth slowed last month, as the British vote on exiting the EU weighed on business and consumer confidence.
Registrations rose 6.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.51 million vehicles, the weakest gain since March, as demand in the UK, the region’s second-biggest market, slid 0.8 percent. First-half sales increased 9.1 percent to 8.09 million cars, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) yesterday said in a statement.
The June 23 referendum that approved the UK’s departure from the EU, known as Brexit, will probably hold back economic growth in countries using the euro, said the European Central Bank, which has been keeping interest rates at or below zero in a stimulus drive.
Prior to the vote, gauges of UK and euro-area economic confidence fell amid questions about how a pullout might affect companies and households. Most automotive shares have yet to fully recover from a global stock-market plunge that followed the ballot, while the pound is trading near a three-year low to the euro.
“Drastically reduced consumer confidence in the UK following the Brexit vote will probably result in a significant hit to sales,” Peter Fuss, an automotive analyst at consulting firm EY, said in a report. “Not least the German carmakers will see an impact in the form of lower exports to the UK, as cars made in Germany get more expensive for British buyers because of the weak pound.”
Last month marked the 34th consecutive month of auto sales gains in Europe. Of the five biggest national markets, growth in Germany, Italy and Spain exceeded the regional rate. The decline in the UK was the nation’s first since October last year.
The ACEA compiles registration figures from the 28 EU countries — excluding Malta — in addition to Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.
Renault SA posted the strongest European sales growth last month among the region’s 10 largest auto sellers, with a 20 percent surge propelled by the main brand’s Captur, Kadjar and Espace crossovers.
Daimler AG ranked next with a 16 percent jump, boosted by demand for sport utility vehicles at the Mercedes-Benz luxury nameplate.
BMW AG, Daimler’s main competitor, also delivered 16 percent more cars in the region.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”