EU car registrations up in October, down for YTD

In October, the EU car market recorded a 4.7 per cent increase, totalling 1,004,935 units. It was the first time since September 2011 that demand for new cars had risen in two consecutive months.

From January to October, new car registrations amounted to 10,006,807 units, or 3.1 per cent less than in the same period last year.

In October, Italy was the only major market to face a downturn (-5.6 per cent). All others contributed positively to the overall 4.7 per cent expansion of the EU market, with growths ranging from +2.3 per cent in Germany to +2.6 per cent in France, +4.0 per cent in the UK and +34.4 per cent in Spain. The results recorded were however the second lowest level to date for a month of October.

From January to October, major markets performed diversely. Germany (-5.2 per cent), France (-7.4 per cent) and Italy (-8.0 per cent) saw their demand for new cars decline, while Spain (+1.1 per cent) and the UK (+10.2 per cent) registered more vehicles than in the first ten months of last year. Overall, the EU registered 10,006,807 new vehicles, or 3.1 per cent less than in January-October 2012.