In March, the global light vehicle markets declined 1.5% yoy to 7.96m units, after having declined 6.2% yoy in February, resulting in a 1.6% yoy increase in YTD, according to LMC Automotive. The SAAR (seasonally adjusted annualised rate) of sales was 81.26m units/year, 2.0% higher than February’s 79.68m and 5.4% down from a record 85.91m in January. YTD, the SAAR was 82.83m, 2.3% higher than FY12’s 81.00m. In FY13E, the global LVs markets are expected to grow 2.8% to 83.2m, which implies a considerable deceleration from last year’s 5.3% and is in line with our previous forecast. (See GADA March 2013 edition of April 1st, 2013.) From 2014 onwards, the markets are expected to accelerate again and to grow by almost 7% p.a. in 2014E and 2015E.

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