Passenger car: registrations down 2.3% in first quarter 2011

Brussels, 19/04/2011 – In March, a total of 1,558,915 new cars was registered in the EU*, or 5.0% less than in March last year. The month counted on average the same number of working days across the region in 2010 and 2011.

Over the first quarter, demand for new cars decreased by 2.3%, with 3,583,185 units registered.

March results were diverging in the EU*, leading to an overall 5.0% decrease in new car registrations. Looking at the major markets, France (+6.1%) and Germany (+11.4%) posted growth while the UK (-7.9%), Italy (-27.6%) and Spain (-29.1%) faced a downturn. In absolute figures, the UK recorded the most vehicles (366,101), followed by Germany (327,921) and France (257,533).

From January to March, although most markets expanded, prominent ones such as the British (-8.7%), the Italian (-23.1%) and the Spanish (-27.3%) recorded losses, which resulted in a 2.3% downturn across the region*. The steepest fall was noted in Greece (-57.4%) and the largest growth recorded in Latvia (+131.7%). The Latvian market remained however the smallest (1,902 units) while Germany registered the most vehicles (763,403) over the first quarter.