ANNUAL REPORT 2001 - Anglo Platinum

Platinum Market Review (continued)AUTOCATALYSTJAPAN2001 sales of new vehicles in Japan eased 1%from 2000, as softening demand for lighttrucks and mini-vehicles outweighed strongsales of compact cars. Sales for the year totalled5,91 million units. A decline in exports alsoweighed heavily on the industry, withproduction declining 3,6% to 9,78 million unitsin 2001 and lower shipments to most majormarkets. Exports to Europe alone fell 21% asJapan lost heavily to domestic manufacturers inthe diesel-hungry market.Despite the decline in vehicle output, Japan’sconsumption of platinum in the autocatalystsector is estimated to have risen 19% to345 000 ounces for the period. More stringentemissions legislation came into effect in October2000 for new models sold in Japan and higherPGM loadings were needed in order to meetthem. From September 2002, all new vehicleswill have to meet the new regulations andfurther increases in demand for PGMs from thissector are therefore expected.EUROPESales of light vehicles in Europe confoundedexpectations and edged up 0,6% in 2001 to14,8 million, the second highest level ever.Diesel vehicles continued to gain market share,accounting for 36% of all light vehicle sales, upfrom 30% in 2000. Diesel growth, combinedwith more stringent diesel legislation from thebeginning of the year, resulted in an almost30% rise in the use of platinum in this sectoralone. The diesel segment of the Europeanmarket used around 70% of the estimated24980 000 ounces of platinumrequired for autocatalyst applications.Platinum content in emission control systemsfitted on gasoline vehicles also rose in 2001, asthe industry switched away from palladium infavour of platinum-rich systems.USADespite expectations of a dismal year for US carsales in 2001, incentives offered by manufacturersboosted sales in the last quarter; 2001was the second best sales year ever at17,2 million units, 1,3% lower than in 2000.The proportion of light trucks has beengrowing in recent years and reached almost50% in 2001. The generous incentives offeredby domestic manufacturers also helped to stemmarket share losses to imported vehicles.‘Big Three’ sales for the model year-endSeptember were 10% lower than for theprevious year, but gains in the last threemonths of 2001 resulted in a 5% decline for thecalendar year. Imported vehicles accounted for17,8% of the market, up from 16% in 2000.