After a 5.0% increase in July, new passenger car registrations declined by 5.0% in August. The month of July counted on average one more working day across the EU, while August totaled one less. Eight months into the year, demand for new cars amounted to 7,841,596 units, or 5.2% less than in the same period last year.
In July, Italy was the only major market to shrink (-1.6%), while growth reached +0.9% in France, +2.1% in Germany, +12.7% in the UK and +14.9% in Spain. In total, 982,544 new cars were registered in the EU, or 5.0% more than in July 2012.
In August, downturn prevailed across significant markets, resulting in an overall 5.0% decline in the EU. The UK was the only major market to expand (+10.9%), while the German contracted by 5.5%, the Italian by 6.6%, the French by 10.5% and the Spanish by 18.3%. The EU* totaled 653,872 new car registrations in the month of August.
From January to August, most major markets faced a downturn ranging from -3.6% in Spain to -6.6% in Germany, -9.0% in Italy and -9.8% in France. The UK was the only one to perform better than in the first eight months of 2012 (+10.44%). New registrations fell by 5.2% over the period this year, totaling 7,841,596 units, representing the lowest January to August level ever recorded**.
* EU27, data for Malta unavailable
** since the beginning of the series in 1990
