European New Car Registrations in Slight Decline

Figures released by the European automobile manufacturers association (ACEA) show that the number of new car registrations in Europe is in a slight decline. In total 831,805 cars were registered in EU and EFTA countries in August, 1.3 per cent less than the same time last year. However, the Europe-wide year-to-date figures show a slight increase of 1.9 per cent. In spite of the slow-down there has been some notable exceptions.

The Europe wide slowing figure is mainly supported by Spain’s recent success. In Spain 1,045,705 new cars were registered between January and August this year, an impressive 12.1 per cent more than in 2003. This compares with 84,996 new car registrations were recorded in the UK in August, 4.9 per cent less than 12 months before. The year-to-date figure showed a one per cent improvement, rising to 1,649,195 new registrations.

When the figures are broken down by manufacturer they reflect the continuing swing towards far-eastern companies. Japanese manufacturers, for example, experienced an 8.7 per cent increase in registrations between January and August 2004. BMW managed to buck the far-eastern trend. Its registrations grew to 446,526, an increase of 7.9 per cent in the first eight months of this year