new passenger car registrations in the EU, last 12 months. Source: ACEA. Click to enlarge.

The decline in April registrations, the first in ten months, is linked to the upturn in registrations last year when a growing number of markets had started to benefit from fleet renewal incentives. In the first months of the present year, however, government support has ended or begun to fade out and the economic situation remains difficult.

In absolute numbers, a total of 1,134,701 new cars were registered in the EU in April. Of the largest markets, Germany registered the largest number of new cars (259,414 units) though new registrations declined the most (-31.7%) percentage-wise, followed by Italy (-15.7%), the Czech Republic (-13.2%), Poland (-11.9%) and Austria (-11.6%). The steepest decline was noted in Bulgaria (-50.8%). By contrast, markets expanded in France (+1.9%), the UK (+11.5%), Belgium (+20.3%) and Spain (+39.3%).

Four months into the year, a total of 4,809,647 new passenger cars were registered in the EU*, or 4.8% more than in the same period last year. Most of the larger markets increased registrations, ranging from +7.5% in Austria to +12.9% in France, +13.4% in Italy, +23.9% in the UK, +43.2% in Spain and +59.1% in Portugal. Germany (-25.5%) and Poland (-10.5%), however, recorded a decline.