The latest figures issued by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) show that European Union (EU) new car registrations recorded in October this year totaled 959,412 units, down by 4.8 percent compared to October 2011, indicating a year-on-year decrease for the 13th consecutive month. However, the ACEA said that the contraction in the EU market of new passenger cars was at a slightly slower pace than in the previous months. In October, new car registrations in the EU fell by 12.7 percent compared to September this year.
In October this year, the UK was the only major market to post year-on-year growth with an increase of 12.1 percent, while the German market remained on the stable side with an increase of just 0.5 percent. The other major markets indicated downturns in the given month, ranging from 7.8 percent in France to 12.4 percent in Italy and 21.7 percent in Spain.
Meanwhile, in the first 10 months of this year, new car registrations totaled 10,327,276 units in the EU, with a decrease of 7.3 percent from the same period of 2011. In particular, in the first 10 months of 2012, the UK was the only market to post significant growth (five percent) and Germany saw its demand fall by 1.6 percent, while Spain saw a decline of 11.9 percent, and France (-13.3 percent) and Italy (-19.7 percent) posted significant contractions, all compared to the same period last year.