New data released yesterday (September 16th) has revealed that demand for new cars in Europe has fallen considerably in the past two months.

European industry body ACEA confirmed that year-on-year new car registrations were down by 7.3 per cent during July and 15.6 per cent in August.

Furthermore, registrations in Europe have now fallen by 3.9 per cent in the first eight months of the year as consumer confidence continues to be eroded and fuel prices soar.

The ACEA also confirmed that demand dropped in western Europe as a whole during August, with Spain and Ireland posting the sharpest declines and only Portugal showing growth.

The news will come as a huge blow to some automakers, who were counting on higher sales to meet profitability targets against the current backdrop of rising raw material prices.

However, the data also show that registrations in the new EU member states increased by 2.7 per cent, with Poland and the Czech Republic recording growths of 9.1 per cent and 8.2 per cent respectively.

Those figures are tempered by the 4.9 per cent fall experienced in Hungary and the 3.5 per cent decrease reported by Romania.



Source:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/consumerproducts-SP/idUKLG45603420080916?sp=true