European car registrations still down, but recovering

ERJ staff report (DS)

Brussels, Belgium -- In May, the number of new passenger car registrations in Europe was negative for the thirteenth consecutive month, with 4.9% fewer new units recorded than in May 2008. In total, 1,270,195 new cars were registered onto the market. Five months into the year, the European* market contracted by 13.9%. May counted on average one working day less across the region. Nevertheless, the decline is a substantial improvement on the figures around the turn of year, when registrations were down by over 20 percent.

In Western Europe, new registrations totaled 1,197,292 in May. Five months into the year, new car registrations declined by 12.8%. Germany (+22.8%) was the only market to expand over that period. France (-1.4%) performed second best, followed by Austria (-3.0%).

esults in the new EU Member States were down 26.0% in May, with only the Czech Republic (+20.5%) and Slovakia (+46.4%) posting growth. From January to May, Poland (+0.7%), Slovakia (+1.3%) and the Czech Republic (+5.5%) performed better than over the same period a year ago, resulting in a 27.9% overall downturn for the region

This is an external link and should open in a new window. If the window does not appear, please check your pop-up blocking software. ERJ is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Press release from ACEA