ADVERTISEMENT

The Global Auto Industry Is Likely in First Recession Since 2009

Worldwide light-vehicle output fell 2.9% in the third quarter and probably will decline about 4% in the fourth quarter. 

The Global Auto Industry Is Likely in First Recession Since 2009
A truck exits from the inspection line at the Ford Motor Co. Dearborn Truck Plant in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S. Photographer: Sean Proctor/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The global auto industry is poised for its first sustained production drop since the financial crisis, according to RBC Capital Markets.

Worldwide light-vehicle output fell 2.9 percent in the third quarter and probably will decline about 4 percent in the fourth quarter, analyst Joe Spak wrote in a report Wednesday. This will be the first back-to-back industrywide drop since 2009, he said.

Automakers probably will produce about 94.6 million vehicles this year, down 0.6 percent from 2017, according to RBC’s estimates. The analysts are projecting output will drop again by 0.4 percent in 2019, with tempered growth resuming in the following years.

The Global Auto Industry Is Likely in First Recession Since 2009

To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Trudell in New York at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Melinda Grenier

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.