New passenger car sales in European Union member states fell by 9.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis in May, it was confirmed today (15th June).

Carmakers' association Acea revealed that 1,129,508 cars were registered across the continent, representing the second monthly decline so far this year.

Although Germany witnessed the most registrations, it also posted the largest decline among major markets (35.1 per cent), followed by Italy (13.8 per cent) and France (11.5 per cent).

The picture was slightly more positive in the UK and Spain, which recorded improvements of 13.5 per cent and 44.6 per cent respectively from 12 months earlier.

According to Acea, the overall decrease reflects "the end to government support schemes on the one hand and the further challenging economic situation on the other".

The figures also showed that registrations in the first five months of the year reached 5,943,096 units, representing a year-on-year increase of 1.9 per cent.

Germany again suffered the worst performance, with a 27.7 per cent decline, while France (7.2 per cent), Italy (7.9 per cent), the UK (22 per cent) and Spain (43.5 per cent) all posted growth.

Earlier this month, Philippe Varin, head of French automaker Peugeot Citreon, suggested that the European car market will shrink by about nine per cent in 2010.

Source

RPT-UPDATE 1-Scrapping, tough economy hit May Europe car sales (15/06/10)

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