European New Car Market Grows 2.7 per cent to May 2006

Jato Dynamics’ analysis of new car registrations in the EU and EFTA region for the first five months of 2006 shows that the overall European market for new cars rose by 2.7 per cent compared with the same period in 2005, to a total volume of 6,918,355 units.

Year-to-date (YTD) growth was significantly higher than in April, due to an overall rise of 10.6 per cent in the European market for new cars in May 2006 (a total volume for the month of 1,455,421 units).

An increase of over 50 per cent in the Italian market in May was linked to last year’s strike by car transporter drivers, which caused a severe drop in comparative registrations in May 2005. The large increase seen in May 2006 marked a return to normality, although the 12.4 per cent year-to-date growth in Italy suggested that the market would be ahead of last year without this issue.

The Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia continued to record significant growth in their new car markets, as did Belgium and Denmark. The market in Iceland, which had shown remarkable growth for many months, declined by over 12 per cent in May but remained more than 17 per cent ahead of last year for the YTD.

Ireland and Sweden recorded increased markets in May and for the YTD. The market in Poland fell in May and YTD after showing a rise in April. The markets of France, Portugal, Slovenia and Switzerland all recorded slightly reduced registrations in May and for the YTD

Diesel’s share of the total European market continued to increase slowly, and is now approaching 50 per cent. Only Austria and Slovenia recorded declines in diesel penetration for both May and for the YTD.