Passenger car registrations: +0.1% in 2018; -8.4% in December
Brussels, 16 January 2019 – In December 2018, the EU passenger car market declined for the fourth month in a row. Last month registrations fell by 8.4%, continuing the downward trend that started with the introduction of WLTP in September.
In December 2018, the EU passenger car market declined for the fourth month in a row. Last month registrations fell by 8.4%, continuing the downward trend that started with the introduction of WLTP in September. With the exception of Italy (+2.0%), all major EU markets saw demand for cars contract during the last month of the year.
Overall in 2018, car registrations in the EU remained more or less stable compared to the year before. Due to falling demand during the last four months of 2018, full-year growth was +0.1%. Although this increase is very modest, it still marks the fifth consecutive year of growth, with almost 15.2 million cars registered across the European Union.
Demand was mostly driven by the Central European countries, where new car registrations grew by 8.0% in 2018. Results were diverse among the five major EU markets, with Spain (+7.0%) and France (+3.0%) posting growth, registrations falling slightly in Germany (-0.2%) and demand contracting in Italy (-3.1%) and the United Kingdom (-6.8%) last year.
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About ACEA
- The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) represents the 14 major Europe-based car, van, truck and bus makers: BMW Group, DAF Trucks, Daimler Truck, Ferrari, Ford of Europe, Honda Motor Europe, Hyundai Motor Europe, Iveco Group, JLR, Mercedes-Benz, Renault Group, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen Group, and Volvo Group.
- Visit www.acea.auto for more information about ACEA, and follow us on www.twitter.com/ACEA_auto or www.linkedin.com/company/ACEA/.
- Contact: Francesca Piazza, Senior Statistics Manager, fp@acea.auto.
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About the EU automobile industry
- 13.0 million Europeans work in the automotive sector
- 11.5% of all manufacturing jobs in the EU
- €374.6 billion in tax revenue for European governments
- €101.9 billion trade surplus for the European Union
- Over 7% of EU GDP generated by the auto industry
- €59.1 billion in R&D spending annually, 31% of EU total
