The latest figures issued by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) show that European Union (EU) new car registrations recorded in August this year totaled 688,168 units, down by 8.9 percent compared to August 2011, following a year-on-year decline of 7.8 percent recorded in July and indicating a year-on-year decrease for the 11th consecutive month. In August, new car registrations in the EU fell by 26.4 percent compared to July this year.
In August this year, the UK was the only major market to post year-on-year growth with an increase of 9.3 percent, while the other major markets underwent contractions ranging from 0.7 percent in France to five percent in Germany, 17.2 percent in Spain and 21 percent in Italy.
Meanwhile, in the first eight months of this year, new car registrations totaled 8,268,642 units in the EU, with a decrease of 7.1 percent from the same period of 2011. In particular, in the first eight months of 2012, the UK was the only market to post significant growth (3.3 percent) and Germany saw its market expand by just 0.6 percent, while Spain saw a decline of 8.5 percent, and France (-13.4 percent) and Italy (-19.9 percent) posted significant contractions, all compared to the same period last year.