The latest figures issued by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) show that European Union (EU) new car registrations recorded in February this year totaled 888,878 units, decreasing by 8.25 percent compared to January this year and down 9.7 percent year on year.
In February, Germany was the only major market to see stable passenger car demand compared to the same month of 2011, while passenger car demand decreased 2.1 percent in Spain, 2.5 percent in the UK, 18.9 percent in Italy and 20.2 percent in France, all on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, in the January-February period this year, new car registrations totaled 1,858,066 units in the EU, with a decrease of 8.3 percent over the same period of 2011. In particular, in the first two months of 2011, Spain (-0.1 percent), Germany (-0.2 percent) and the UK (-0.8 percent) saw their markets contract slightly, while France (-20.5 percent) and Italy (-17.8 percent) posted significant contractions, all compared to the same period last year.