Passenger car: registrations decrease by 6.9% in April

Brussels, 16/05/2012 – In April, 1,017,912 new passenger cars were registered in the EU, or 6.9% less than in the same month of 2011.

Four months into the year, new registrations were 7.5% lower in the EU than a year earlier, adding up to 4,332,342 units. No calendar effect occurred as the month counted the same number of working days as in April 2011 throughout the region.

In April, markets across the EU* performed diversely, leading to an overall 6.9% decline in new car registrations. The UK (+3.3%) and Germany (+2.9%) were the only major markets to post growth, while France contracted by 1.9%. Italy (-18.0%) and Spain (-21.7%) recorded double-digit downturns.

From January to April, Germany (+1.8%) and the UK (+1.4%) sustained demand in the region while the rest of the major markets faced contractions ranging from -7.0% in Spain to -17.5% in France and -20.2% in Italy.