NFDA salutes 32 months of growth in European car registrations

“We are pleased to see that passenger car registrations in the EU continued to perform well in April marking 32 consecutive months of growth”, said Sue Robinson, Director of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA), which represents franchised car and commercial vehicle retailers across the UK, commenting on figures published by ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association).

In April 2016, passenger car registrations in the EU grew again by 9.1 per cent compared to April 2015, reaching 1,273,733 units. This was the best April in terms of volume since 2008.

Amongst the largest European markets Spain returned to form after last month decline with registrations up 21.2 per cent, followed by Italy which saw a double-digit growth too (+11.5 per cent). Germany (+8.4 per cent), France (+7.1 per cent) and the UK (+2.0 per cent) also performed well.

Robinson continued, “It is encouraging to see that, in spite of following a record breaking March, the car market in April performed very well both in the UK and in the EU.

“In the first four months of the year registrations rose 8.5 per cent in Europe, totalling more than 5 million units (5,094,026), while the UK market grew by 4.4 per cent year-to-date.

“This positive trend continues to reflect the gradual recovery of the European economy and we are confident that registrations in the UK will remain strong in line with other major European markets.”