According to a report released on January 15 by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), following a marked decline in the second half of 2008 and the first half of 2009, European (EU-27 plus EFTA) new car registrations picked up in the second half of last year, largely due to the impact of fleet renewal schemes in a number of major markets. In total, 14,481,545 new cars were registered in 2009, 1.6 percent less compared with 2008 and 9.5 percent less than in 2007. Meanwhile, in December 2009, demand for new cars in the region rose by 16.0 percent year on year, amounting to 1,074,438 units.
In Western Europe, new car registrations totaled 1,003,757 units in December, increasing by 19.3 percent compared to the same month last year and down 10.13 percent over the previous month. In December, British new car registrations increased by 38.9 percent, Spanish registrations by 25.1 percent, Italian figures by 16.7 percent, French figures by 48.6 percent, while German registrations declined by 4.6 percent, all compared to December 2008.
In 2009, new car registrations in Western Europe increased slightly by 0.5 percent year on year, reaching 13,632,918 units. A rise of 23.2 percent was recorded in Germany, a rise of 10.7 percent was observed in France and an increase of 8.8 percent was seen in Austria, due to the increase in demand resulting from scrapping incentives. Meanwhile, the demand for new cars decreased by 17.9 percent in Spain, fell by 6.4 percent in the UK and was down 0.2 percent in Italy.
In the new EU member states, new car registrations dropped by 16.5 percent year on year in December. Only the Czech Republic and Slovenia posted growth in the given month, with 43.8 percent and 12.4 percent respectively. Elsewhere, the downturn ranged from 3.9 percent (Poland) to 79.3 percent (Latvia).
In 2009, the overall decline in new car registrations was 26.6 percent for the new EU member states, compared to the previous year. Only the Czech Republic and Slovakia recorded significant increases, of 12.5 percent and 6.7 percent respectively.
