Automakers in developed countries are going strong and those in emerging markets are struggling according to a research report published earlier this year by Euler Hermes, the world leader in trade credit insurance. The following are some of the graphs and points of interest from their report.

1)Change in Global Vehicle Production by Country

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Vehicle production in China and India has soared during the period shown with China more than doubling the production.European countries lagged in production relative to emerging countries.

2) China

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China is the world’s largest auto market with growth tripling in size between  2008 and 2014 to reach 20 million units. However after a decline this year sales is projected 3% in 2016 also. China increased its production by 167 percent between 2007 and 2014.

3) USA

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In the US, record sales of 17.5 million units is projected for this year. Low gas prices and a recovering economy is driving more consumers to buy SUVs. This is great for automakers since the profit margin on these vehicles is high.  The US has enjoyed six consecutive years of growth and has climbed back to its pre-crisis peak now.

4) Japan

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In Japan, between 5 and 6 millions units were sold between between 2008 and 2015. This is small compared to the US market

5) Europe

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Europe is the world’s third largest auto market. In 2016, sales of new vehicles is projected to reach 14 million units.

6) Brazil, India and Russia

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New car registrations declined in Brazil and Russia but increased in India by 6%. however the market in India is tiny with sales of just 2 million units in 2015.

Source: Auto Market – a live wire by Euler Hermes via Allianz

The per capita financial assets held by households varies widely between countries in Asia. Most of the Asian countries are emerging or frontier economies while a few of them are developed economies. Hence it is not surprising to see that households’ financial wealth differs from one country to another.

Singapore boasts the highest per capita gross financial assets among Asian nations according to a report by Allianz. At the end of 2014, Singapore’s per capita financial assets stood at EUR 106,620. To put this number in perspective, it is more than 10 times as high as in China and more than 100 times as high as in India. After Singapore, Japan and Taiwan are the next richest countries in terms of per capita gross financial assets.

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The above chart makes it clear that countries like India, Indonesia and even China have a long way to go before becoming a prosperous and wealthy country like Singapore.

Households also have liabilities just like a government or a corporation does. When liabilities are accounted and net assets calculated, Japan beat Singapore with the highest per capita financial assets.

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Based on net per capita financial assets, India and Indonesia are even worse off with figures under EUR 1,000 per household.

Source: Allianz Global Wealth Report 2015, Allianz

Some of the key financial/economic events from this year are shown in this infographic below:

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Source: Schroders