Slow Start to the Year for European Car Registrations

Total European passenger car registrations remained virtually flat, falling 0.8 per cent year-on-year. According to the ACEA, the association that processes the figures, “the relatively slow start to the year has been mainly driven by the drop posted by new EU member states (-12.7 per cent). Among the five main markets the UK (-8.2 per cent), Germany and Italy (-3.7 per cent) all reported losses. Meanwhile France and Spain both recorded increases of more than 6 per cent.

As far as manufacturers are concerned, Fiat Group registrations continued to drop (16.9 per cent year-on-year) as did DaimlerChrysler’s (-4.9 per cent) and Hyundai’s (8.9 per cent). VW and PSA group registrations both remained flat at 193,000 and 172,000 units respectively.