ACEA

PASSENGER CARS: Registrations up 6.3% in September, down 6.6% over 3 quarters

UPDATED at 15:10 - The manufacturer tables now include the market shares of Ford, Volvo and the category 'others'.

Brussels, 15/10/2009 - In September, European* passenger car registrations increased by 6.3% compared to September 2008, reaching a total of 1,388,136 new car registrations. The September results were boosted in markets with government incentives to support fleet renewal in place, and especially in those countries where these schemes come to an end soon. Nine months into the year,registrations of new cars were lower than over the same period of 2008, noting a decrease of 6.6%.

The West European market increased by +9.6% in September compared to the same month last year, recording the largest jump since 1999. In absolute figures, however, the September registrations stayed below the levels reached since 2002. Germany remained the best performer with +21.0%. Spain also posted a marked double digit growth (+18.0%) in light of the country’s incentive scheme nearing its end, and after sixteen months of severe downturn. Austria (+17.9%), France (+14.0%), Norway (+12.7%), the UK (+11.4%), Italy (+6.8%) and Switzerland (+2.9%) also recorded positive results. Nine months into the year, only three countries – Germany (+26.1%), Austria (+6.7%) and France (+2.4%) – saw their markets expand. The downturn ranged elsewhere from 5.9% in Italy to -79.5% in Iceland. The Spanish and British markets shrunk by 28.6% and 15.5% respectively. In total, 10,310,038 new cars were registered in Western Europe, or 4.8% less than in the same period a year ago.

In the new EU Member States, the downturn prevailed, reflecting the still challenging market conditions. In September, markets contracted by 36.4% in the region. Poland (+7.9%) and the Czech Republic (+0.5%), the two largest markets, were the only ones posting growth. From January to September, new car registrations were down 28.7%. The vast majority of markets declined sharply, ranging from -22.3% in Slovenia to -80.2% in Latvia. Slovakia (+19.7%), the Czech Republic (+8.0%) and Poland (+1.7%) were the only expanding markets.

* EU27 + EFTA, data for Cyprus and Malta unavailable

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