EU car registrations rise in May; new EU member states market decline

Brussels - With over 1.5 million new cars registered in June 2007, car registration in the 26 countries of the EU and EFTA was up by 0.7 percent, compared to June 2006.

The upturn is as a result of the new EU members' surplus (+19,360 units, +21.1 percent) exceeding West European loss (-8,380 units, -0.6 percent).

Italy (+8 percent) and the UK (+1.5 percent) were the most successful on the main markets in June 2007. German car registrations were affected by VAT increase in January and as a result further declined by -7 percent. France (-3.2 percent) and Spain (-1.8 percent) also slowed down.

Results of the remaining EU15 countries were mixed: half of them enjoyed growth, with Belgium (+8.4 percent), the Netherlands (+7.9 percent) and Portugal (+6.6 percent) at the top. First semester cumulative figures confirmed an upward trend in Italian and British registrations (+6.5percent and +2percent, respectively) while Spain (-1.6 percent), France (-2.6 percent) and Germany (-9.2percent) saw their results deteriorate.

New EU member states showed a healthy performance during the first half of 2007 (+14.8 percent). In June, they reached a +21.1 percent growth, with Romania, Baltic countries and Poland leading the way (+56.1 percent, +33.7 percent and +23 percent, respectively). Hungary and Slovakia were the only countries not to see their first half-year results improve with regards to January-June 2006, down by 11.5 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.

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