Calum MacRae, PwC, said: 'In light of a muted sales recovery in the US and the effects of government incentive withdrawals being felt across Europe and Japan, it should not be surprising that sales in the established markets through 2010 are in decline or stable at best. Indeed, given such uncertain circumstances for the world’s major automotive markets, a record level of vehicle assembly in 2010 would have been dismissed a year ago.

'Thanks to BRIC country performance and the rebalancing of inventory, as automakers cut back aggressively in the first half of 2009, 2010’s global light vehicle assembly output is on track to beat the 2007 pre crisis record.

'With more economic uncertainty as a result of austerity budgets in many countries, the onus for the industry's development in 2011 is once again certain to lie with the developing markets.'

According to the latest Autofacts forecast, Japan, Western Europe and the US boosted light vehicle sales by 5.6% in the first eight months of 2010, equivalent to almost a 1.1 million unit sales improvement. However, it was the BRIC countries that led growth, boosting sales by a third (33%), equivalent to a 3.5 million unit increase.