Passenger car registrations: +6.1% eight months into 2018; +10.5% in July and +31.2% in August

Brussels, 19 September 2018 – In July 2018, demand for new passenger cars in the EU grew by 10.5%, with almost 1.3 million cars registered.

In July 2018, demand for new passenger cars in the EU grew by 10.5%, with almost 1.3 million cars registered. Growth was recorded in all major EU markets. Spain (+19.3%), France (+18.9%) and Germany (+12.3%) posted the highest increases, followed by Italy (+4.7%) and the United Kingdom (+1.2%) with more modest figures.

August usually is the lowest sales month of the year, but the EU passenger car market grew significantly (+31.2%) in August 2018, counting more than 1.1 million new vehicles. The most likely explanation for this exceptional growth, is the introduction of the new WLTP test that applies to all new car registrations from 1 September 2018. Hence, some auto manufacturers offered pre‐WLTP vehicles at extremely attractive prices. As a result, double‐digit percentage gains were registered in many EU countries, as well as in the five major markets.

Over the first eight months of 2018, passenger car registrations across the EU grew by 6.1% to reach 10.8 million units, largely boosted by the unusually strong performance during the summer months. Looking at the major markets, demand went up in Spain (+14.6%), France (+8.9%) and Germany (+6.4%), while car sales remained stable in Italy (‐0.1%) and contracted in the United Kingdom (‐4.2%).

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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
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