Passenger car registrations: +3.7% over nine months; ‐2.0% in September

In September 2017, passenger car registrations across the European Union fell by 2.0%, totalling 1,427,105 units. However, it must be noted that September 2016 figures (the highest total on record to date) constituted a high basis of comparison. Momentum in some of the EU’s five key markets is starting to slow, especially in the United Kingdom (‐9.3%) and Germany (‐3.3%). However, these declines were partially offset by the solid performance of the Italian and Spanish markets (up 8.1% and 4.6% respectively).

Over the first nine months of 2017, demand for passenger cars remained positive in the EU, with almost 11.7 million new vehicles registered – an increase of 3.7% compared to the same period last year. Italy (+9.0%), Spain (+6.7%), France (+3.9%) and Germany (+2.2%) performed well so far in 2017, although UK car demand fell by 3.9%. Noteworthy is the strong performance of the new EU member states, where registrations went up by 13.8% during the period.