EU car registration rally ends

ERJ staff report (DS)

Brussels, - New passenger car registrations in Europe fell by 7.4 percent in April compared to the same month last year. Over the first four months of 2010 the market expanded by 4.8 percent compared to the same period a year ago, while shrinking by 11.6 percent in comparison to January-April 2008.

For the first time since May 2009, volumes were lower than the year-before figure. The decline is linked to the upturn in registrations last year when a growing number of markets had started to benefit from fleet renewal incentives. In the first months of the present year, however, government support has ended or begun to fade out and the economic situation remains difficult.

In absolute numbers, a total of 1,134,701 new cars were registered in the EU* in April. Of the largest markets, Germany registered the largest number of new cars (259,414 units) though new registrations declined the most (-31.7 percent) percentage wise, followed by Italy (-15.7 percent), the Czech Republic (-13.2 percent), Poland** (-11.9 percent) and Austria (-11.6 percent). The steepest decline was noted in Bulgaria (-50.8 percent). By contrast, markets expanded in France (+1.9 percent), the UK (+11.5 percent), Belgium (+20.3 percent) and Spain (+39.3 percent).

Four months into the year, a total of 4,809,647 new passenger cars were registered in the EU*, or 4.8 percent more than in the same period last year. Most of the larger markets increased registrations, ranging from +7.5 percent in Austria to +12.9 percent in France, +13.4 percent in Italy, +23.9 percent in the UK, +43.2 percent in Spain and +59.1 percent in Portugal. Germany (-25.5 percent) .

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Press release from ACEA