Passenger car: demand for new cars stable over five months

Brussels, 13/06/2008 – European demand for new cars decreased in May compared to the same month of last year (-7.8%). This result was affected by one working day less across the whole region, as well as by a massive increase in fuel prices. Calculated over five months the market remained stable (-0.7%). In total, 1,334,081 new passenger cars were registered in Europe* in May.

In Western Europe, markets contracted by 8% to 1,235,314 newly registered passenger vehicles. Cumulative results from January to May show a milder decrease of 1.5%. Looking at the major markets, France was the only one to post growth both in its monthly results (+7%) and in its cumulative figures (+5.2%). The number of new registrations in Germany was slightly lower (-6%) than in May 2007, although the market is on a stable path, with cumulative results 4.2% higher than over the same period last year. The Spanish and the Italian markets were still on a downward trend, decreasing by 24.3% and 17.6% respectively over the month. Five months into the year, they recorded 14.3% and 10% fewer registrations compared to the same period in 2007. Demand for new cars in the UK fell by a modest 3.5% in May, after two months of notable growth, leading to stable cumulative January – May results (-0.6%).

In the new EU Member States, the decline of 4.2% in new registrations in May contrasted with the 9.8% increase over the last five months. The Polish market performed better than in 2007, totaling 26,230 new car registrations. Romania saw its market decrease by 12.2% in May but remained the second most important market of the new EU Member States with 24,647 new registrations. Five months into the year, almost all new Member States posted growth.