European car registrations up 16 per cent in May

In May 2016, European passenger car registrations showed double digit growth marking 33 consecutive months of growth. Year-to-date, the market grew by 9.9 per cent, totalling 6.4 million units. “It is extremely positive to see that European new passenger car registrations rose 16.0 per cent in May, reaching 1,288,220 units,” 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).

All the largest European markets performed well: Italy (+27.3 per cent), France (+22.3 per cent) and Spain (+20.9 per cent) experienced the largest increase; in Germany (+11.9 per cent) and the UK (+2.5 per cent) car registrations grew at a more modest rate.

Robinson continued, “These results are in line with recent predictions from the ACEA, which revised its forecast for 2016 car registrations from the initial 2 per cent growth to 5 per cent.

“Positive factors such as decline in oil prices and very low inflation have been supporting European economic recovery. Real GDP in the EU is now expected to grow moderately by 1.8 per cent in 2016 after rising 2.0 per cent in 2015.

“European car registrations currently represent almost a quarter of the global market and we are pleased to see that the automotive sector across Europe has made again its significant contribution to the overall economy.”