European car sales continue modest growth over summer

ERJ staff report (DS)

Brussels -- The European market posted growth over summer with 2.8 percent and 3.0 percent more cars registered in July and August respectively, derived from starkly varying results in individual countries. The increase, commenced in June after fourteen months of downturn, is mainly reflecting the impact of incentive schemes in a number of markets across the EU. Eight months into the year, registrations are still 8.2 percent lower than in the same period last year, amounting to 9,565,517 units.

In July, new passenger car registrations rose to 2.8 percent, totaling 1,295,711 vehicles in Europe*. Western Europe registered a 5.1 percent increase which counter-balanced the 25.0 percent downturn observed in the new EU Member States. Austria (+44.1 percent) recorded the biggest upturn while the sharpest drops were to be found in Latvia (-86.6 percent) and Ireland (-77.1 percent).

In August, markets performed similarly although slightlyimproving in Western Europe (+7.8 percent) and decreasing a little more in the new EU Member States (-35.2 percent), resulting in an overall 3.0 percent growth in the whole region*. Driven by fleet renewal incentives, Germany recorded a 28.4 percent plus, while the UK (+6.0 percent), France (+7.0 percent) and Italy (+8.5 percent) also performed better than a year ago. After fifteen months of downturn, Spain saw its market

stabilize (0.0 percent) in August.

Eight months into the year, new registrations were down 6.6 percent in Western Europe and 26.8 percent in the new EU Member States, resulting in an overall 8.1 percent downturn. Germany (+26.8 percent), Austria (+5.5 percent), France (+1.1 percent), Slovakia (+22.3 percent), the Czech Republic (+9.0 percent) and Poland (+1.0 percent) posted growth. Despite better results over the last months, Italy (-7.4 percent), the UK (-21.5 percent) and Spain (-32.0 percent) recorded negative figures on a year-to-date

basis, as did the vast majority of countries.

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Press release from ACEA