* Total European new car registrations down 4.9 pct -ACEA
* W.European (EU15 + EFTA) figures show 3.2 pct drop -ACEA
* Low-cost Dacia brand doubles May market share -ACEA
* Luxury carmakers don't benefit from government subsidies
* VDA sees signs of a decrease in speed of industry downturn
(Adds details)
By Christiaan Hetzner
FRANKFURT, June 16 (Reuters) - New car registrations in
Europe fell for the 13th straight month in May as many companies
struggled to move metal without the benefit of cash incentives
from governments, industry data published on Tuesday showed.
According to data from Brussels-based industry association
ACEA published on Tuesday, registrations fell 4.9 percent to
1.27 million vehicles in May, although most markets also had one
fewer working day on average versus last year's comparative
month.
Whereas consumers largely eschewed luxury brands like
Daimler's <DAIGn.DE> Mercedes-Benz, they cashed in on state
subsidies in some markets to scrap old cars in favour of new,
cheap models like Dacia's no-frills Logan saloon and Sandero
hatchback where buyers could extract the most savings.
Renault's <RENA.PA> low-cost Romanian marque saw its new car
registrations double in May despite Dacia's own domestic market
shrinking by half, giving the brand a 2 percent share in Europe
last month -- equivalent to that of Japan's Nissan <7201.T>.
Alone in the higher margin Western European market, Dacia
more than tripled its sales to nearly 20,000 vehicles.
Hyundai <005380.KS> of South Korea was the month's next best
performer in Europe, gaining by a quarter in May, while the
Volkswagen <VOWG.DE> brand boosted its new car registrations by
a healthy 9.2 percent.
Benefitting little from the cars-for-clunkers scheme that
has been propping up demand in the volume market, luxury and
semi-premium brands experienced another overall disastrous month
by comparison.
INSOLVENCY HURTS SALES
Alfa Romeo <FIA.MI> eked out only a 3.3 percent decline,
while Mercedes and Audi both fell by about 9 percent.
BMW's <BMWG.DE> eponymous flagship brand saw a 15 percent
decrease and Volvo <F.N> dropped 20 percent. From there, results
at other rivals went into a freefall.
New car registrations at Toyota's <7203.T> Lexus plummeted
by half, giving it a share of just 0.1 percent in Europe, where
it has lost its foothold despite being a major luxury player in
the United States.
Carmakers like Saab and Chrysler that are in
court-administered restructuring or which have just emerged from
it brought up the rear with declines of around 60 percent last
month.
Opel, brought last month to the brink of insolvency as talks
over a state-sponsored bailout nearly failed, saw its
performance deteriorate by almost 10 percent over last year's
May.
Overall registrations of new cars in Europe during the first
five months of this year fell 13.9 percent to 5.96 million
vehicles, according to ACEA data.
"The global demand crisis in the auto industry is not over,
but there are initial indications that the downturn is
decelerating," Frankfurt's VDA, the German automotive industry
association, said in a separate statement.
It estimated that seasonally-adjusted new car registrations
rose 2 percent last month in Western Europe over April.
To read ACEA's full press release, please click on:
http://www.acea.be/images/uploads/files/20090616_PRPC-FINAL-090.pdf
(Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner; Editing by Hans Peters)
