EU car registrations down 1.6 per cent

New passenger car registrations in Europe (EU-15 + EFTA) for January 2004 amounted to 1,173,273 units, representing a decrease of 1.6 per cent (-1.6 per cent in the EU-15) with respect to January 2003.

The figures for the first month of the year show a contrasting picture from country to country: in some of them, there are clear signs of recovery, while in others uncertain economic conditions continue to prevail. This is well illustrated by the figures in the five main markets. While Germany (-12.

4 per cent) and France (-11.9 per cent) posted decreases, Spain (+9.2 per cent), the United Kingdom (+5.

8 per cent) and Italy (+5.6 per cent) showed a positive start of the year. Overall passenger car registrations in the eight main markets among future EU Member States grew 3.

5 per cent. The two main markets, Poland and Hungary, both posted an increase of 5 per cent, while the Czech Republic saw a decrease of 9.8 per cent.