2015 Outlook: Global Automotive Manufacturers

...Further Global Demand Growth: Fitch Ratings expects global demand for new vehicles to increase modestly in 2015 and support automotive manufacturers' credit profiles, despite challenging conditions in some markets. We maintain a stable outlook on the sector overall, including a positive outlook in Europe and a stable outlook in the US and Japan. Recovering Europe: After six years of decline, we expect sales to rebound by about 4.5%-5% in 2014 and increase further in 2015. However, we also believe that the recovery is fragile and that sales growth will remain uneven in the region. A lack of clear and sustained economic recovery continues to hinder demand for new vehicles in Europe. Longer term, we remain cautious about the ability of new car sales to return to their pre-crisis levels. Slowing US Growth: We expect light vehicle sales to increase further in the US in 2015, for the sixth consecutive year, by about 3%, to 16.8 million units. Growth should be driven by continued economic improvement,...

Outlook