Winners and losers in the 2019 UK car market so far

PSA is a bright light for the industry, having increased first-half profit, boosted by new model launches and a contribution from Opel-Vauxhall, and despite a drop in global sales volume. PSA’s operating margin is now 8.7% – impressive for a volume car maker. PSA says cost saving from platform-sharing with Opel-Vauxhall boosted profitability, offsetting £275m of extra costs in China. The group’s best-seller remained the Peugeot 208.

Jaguar Land Rover

Loss £395m (+49%) | Revenue £5.07bn (-2.8%) Sales | 128,615 (-11.6%) (Second quarter figures) 

JLR returned to loss-making trading in the second quarter, having made a welcome profit in the first quarter. The loss was blamed on a global sales slump. UK sales were actually up, and sales in China recovered in June, an encouraging indicator for the rest of the year. Plant shutdowns and delays in WLTP certification were also blamed. Looking ahead, JLR says a £2.5bn cost-saving programme is on track and delivered £400m of benefits in the quarter.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

Profit £722m (+14%) | Revenue £24.3bn (-3%) | Sales 1.157m (-11%) (Second quarter figures)

FCA is having one of its better years, with its profit increasing solidly. Strong US performances by Ram and Jeep are the highlights, with the highly profitable Ram 1500 and Super Duty boosting its pick-up market share to 28%, up 7% on last year. Meanwhile, demand is strong for the newly launched Jeep Gladiator pick-up, which is already hitting its forecast full-production run rate. On the downside, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Maserati are all struggling and sales in China are weak. In response, Maserati is planning a “significant inventory reduction” in the second half of 2019 in readiness for new models in 2020. Always look on the bright side: watch out for bargains in Maserati dealers this autumn.

Nissan

Profit £12m (-98%) | Revenue £17.9bn (-12.7%) | Sales 1.23m (-6.0%) (First quarter figures) 

Nissan just about scraped a profit in its first quarter, blaming the near-wipe-out of its profits compared with Q1 2018 on fewer sales, higher raw material costs, exchange rate fluctuations and investment costs to meet new emissions rules. Europe dragged down the sales figures, with a 16.3% drop to 135k units, as did Japan (-2.6%) and the rest of the world (-13%), although sales in China were up (by 2.3%). In response, Nissan is cutting around 12k jobs globally, pruning some compact cars from its model range and reducing annual production capacity to 6.6m by 2022, a cut of 600k.

Mercedes-Benz Cars

Loss £612m (-135%) | Revenue £20.3bn (-1%) | Sales 575,639 (-3%) (Second quarter figures) 

Mercedes parent Daimler – the car, truck and van business – has issued four profit warnings in 2019, largely because it is setting aside £1.5bn to cover a fine expected to be levied after Mercedes transgressed diesel emission regulations. A further £0.9bn has been allocated for a Takata airbag recall in the US. Sales, meanwhile, have been hit by the global trade war between the US and China and the diesel backlash in Europe. Most affected were SUV sales, which dropped to 181k units (-13%), although the new Mercedes-Benz A-Class boosted its sales significantly, up 27% to 124k units. But the overall effect has been stark: last year, in three months’ trading (March to June), Mercedes Cars made a £2.4bn profit. The comparative figure this year is a £612m loss and a negative profit margin of 3%. Ouch.

Ford

Profit £122m (-99.9%) | Revenue £32.1bn (-0.2%) | Sales 1.364m (+9%) (Second quarter figures)