Passenger car: registrations up 0.9% in February

Brussels, 16/03/2011 – In February, demand for new cars slightly increased (+0.9%) in the EU*, with a majority of markets expanding. In total, 981,429 new cars were registered in the month, which counted on average the same number of working days across the region compared to February 2010.

Two months into the year, new car registrations slipped by 0.3%, amounting to 2,023,133 units.

In February, the EU* recorded 0.9% more cars than in the same month last year. While most countries posted growth, ranging from +1.2% in Poland to 112.6% in Lithuania, five recorded a downturn, including major markets such as the UK (-7.7%), Italy (-20.5%) and Spain (-27.6%). The two remaining major markets posted growth, with registrations up 13.2% in France and 15.2% in Germany. Portugal and Greece saw their markets contract by 12.7% and 49.1% respectively.

From January to February, demand for new cars in the EU* remained level (-0.3%) compared to the first two months of last year. A majority of markets performed better that in the same period a year ago though three of the five largest faced a double-digit downturn. The UK shrank by 10.2%, Italy by 20.5% and Spain by 25.8%. Poland (-4.2%), Portugal (-11.0%) and Greece (-58.5%) also saw their markets contract. Elsewhere, growth ranged from 1.9% in Luxembourg to 114.5% in Estonia.