The latest figures issued by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) show that European Union (EU) new car registrations continued the downward trend commenced in October 2011, falling to their lowest level for a month of February with 795,482 units, down 10.1 percent compared to January this year and down 10.5 percent year on year.
In February, the UK was the only major market in the EU to see increased passenger car demand compared to the same month of 2012, with a rise of 7.9 percent, while passenger car demand decreased 9.8 percent in Spain, 10.5 percent in Germany, 12.1 percent in France and 17.4 percent in Italy, all on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, in the January-February period this year, new car registrations totaled 1,681,073 units in the EU, with a decrease of 9.5 percent from the same period of 2012. In particular, in the first two months of 2013, Germany (-9.6%) and Spain (-9.7%) saw similar decrease rates on year-on-year basis. France (-13.5%) and Italy (-17.3%) recorded double-digit declines, while demand improved in the UK (+10.3%), all year on year.
