EU new car registration up 87% in March

Brussels – New EU passenger car registrations rose 87.3% year-on-year in the month of March, due mainly to the exceptionally low base of comparison caused by the strict Covid-19 lockdowns last year.

Some 1,062,446 new cars were sold in the EU last month, compared to 567,253 during the same month in 2020, according to the latest figures by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). 

Triple-digit gains were posted by three of the four largest EU markets with Italy seeing the biggest increase at 497.2%, said ACEA 16 April.

France, Spain and Germany also saw strong gains at 191.7%, 128.0% and 35.9% respectively. 

Over the first quarter of 2021, EU demand for new cars grew by 3.2% to reach 2.6 million units registered in total. 

Despite steep declines during the first two months of the year, March’s strong results offset the negative trend, ACEA said. 

Looking at the major EU markets, last month’s gains brought the cumulative performances of Italy and France into positive territory at 28.7% and 21.1% respectively. 

Spain and German posted overall declines at 14.9% and 6.4%, although the downtrend significantly slowed down in March.