Passenger car: European market down 12.3% in April

Brussels, 14/05/2009 – New passenger car registrations declined for the twelfth consecutive month in Europe, totaling 1,251,862 units in April, or 12.3% less than in the same month a year ago. Four months into 2009, the market decrease amounts to -15.9%. April counted on average one working day less across the region. New registrations in Western Europe fell by 11.6% in April. Austria (+12.8%) and Germany (+19.4%) were the only countries to post growth, reflecting the effect of fleet renewal incentives. Neighbouring countries with such schemes in place, such as France (-7.1%), Italy (-7.5%) and Luxemburg (-8.5%) recorded a single-digit decrease, while other markets declined more severely. British and Spanish registrations fell by 24.0% and 45.6% respectively.

Four months into the year, new car registrations in Western Europe dropped by 15.1%. Germany stood out as the only expanding market (+18.4%). Elsewhere, the downturn ranged from -4.8% (France) to -90.8% (Iceland). Looking at the major markets, Italy contracted by 16.3%, the UK by 28.5% and Spain by 43.7%. The new EU Member States saw their results drop by 21.4% in April, with 83,430 new cars registered. Poland (+2.4%), the Czech Republic (+19.0%) and Slovakia (+43.5%) posted growth while Hungary (-51.5%) and Romania (-51.8%) recorded a sharp downturn.

Cumulative figures from January to April show the same trend of a general 26.3% contraction in the region. The same three markets expanded, with Slovakia at +0.3%, Poland at +1.6% and the Czech Republic +1.8%. All other markets performed less well than last year, including large ones such as Slovenia (-26.5%), Hungary (-35.4%) and Romania (-58.6%).