The Automotive Quarterly report for July 2016 shows a significant decline in the automotive market at the beginning of the year. The STOXX Europe 600 and STOXX Global 3000 indices lost 7% and 4.3% respectively in Q4/15, with the Automobiles & Parts Index in Europe losing 22.4% due to weaker growth in the EU core markets and the catastrophic decline in the Russian automotive market. The global decline was -19%, slightly weaker due to positive growth in the US market for commercial vehicles and gasoline-powered passenger cars, as well as continued growth in emerging markets such as Turkey. In terms of sales and profitability, the sales of automotive OEMs declined by an average of -8.5% compared to Q4/15, but on an annual basis, the decline was only -1.2%. BMW had the strongest sales decline of -21.7% in Q4/15, but was back on the same level as the previous year (-0.4%). Daimler and Ford also had double-digit sales declines in Q4/15, but were still 2.4% and 4.6% above the previous year, while GM was -3.4% below. The other manufacturers were roughly on the same level as the previous year, but Volkswagen's sales were affected by the diesel crisis, with a decline of -6.4% compared to the previous year, while its subsidiary Audi only declined -1.4% in the same period.
