New passenger car registrations in the European Union increased by three percent in February this year and by 7.9 percent over the first two months of the year, compared to the same periods in 2009, according to a report released on March 16 by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA). Compared to the pre-crisis levels of February and January-February 2008, new car registrations in the corresponding periods of 2010 decreased by 15 percent and 16 percent respectively.
In February, a total of 974,346 new cars were registered in EU, or three percent more than in February 2009. A major decrease of 29.8 percent in Europe's second largest market Germany was countered by an increase in the other major markets. Under the continued influence of government fleet renewal incentives, France recorded 18.2 percent more registrations in February, while increases were recorded in Italy at 20.6 percent, in the UK at 26.4 percent and in Spain at 47 percent. Romania, Hungary and Poland saw registrations decrease by 63 percent, 57.9 percent and 19.2 percent, all compared to February 2009.
In the first two months of 2010, the EU registered 2,033,753 new passenger cars, or 7.9 percent more compared to the corresponding period of 2009. In absolute figures, Italy registered the most vehicles with 407,580 units, followed by Germany with 376,035 units, France with 352,013 units, the UK with 214,165 units and Spain with 161,411 units. Germany was the only larger market to contract, by a rate of 19.5 percent, in the given period. The market expanded by 16.3 percent in France, 25.5 percent in Italy, 28.7 percent in the UK and 32.9 percent in Spain.
