EU car registrations up 6.9% in June

Although registrations of new passenger cars declined slightly in the UK last month, the opposite applied in most markets within the region. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) reports that the European Union car market grew for the 34th consecutive month during June 2016, with two of the five largest markets recording a greater than ten per cent year-on-year rise. Registrations jumped 11.9 per cent to 165,208 units in Italy during the month and 11.2 per cent to 123,790 in Spain. Germany, Europe’s largest car market, recorded 339,563 new car registrations during the month, 8.3 per cent more than in June 2015, while France experienced a modest growth of 0.8 per cent, to 227,353 new car registrations.

The highest percentage growth was seen in Latvia, where registrations of new passenger cars shot up 68.1 per cent to 2,090 units, and Croatia and Hungary both saw registrations jump more than 30 per cent year-on-year. Only a handful of markets besides the UK contracted in June – new car registrations in Greece were down 1.5 per cent to 8,863 units and registrations in Bulgaria declined 3.9 per cent to 2,440 cars. The greatest percentage drop occurred in Romania, where registrations fell 36.7 per cent year-on-year to 5,462 units.