Source:ACEA

19 APRIL 2011

New PASSENGER CAR REGISTRATIONS in the European Union (EU 27) dropped abruptly -5% in March year-on-year to 1 558 915 units as France's and Germany's sustained momentum rescinded while markets in Italy, Spain and the UK kept deteriorating. The Union's largest automobile markets remained in positive territory for the third consecutive month but recorded their first slow down since January: in Germany, new registrations moved down to +11.4% or 327 921 new vehicles and France's was slashed by half compared with the previous month year-on-year period to 257 533 new units or +6.1%. Auto manufacturers incentives to prevent a new market contraction since the end of the car fleet schemes last December met consumers demand but latest figures also revealed cost-conscious households limits. In the UK where drastic budget cuts which include job losses triggered severe discontent, new passenger car registrations fell -7.9% to 366 101 new vehicles, an uninterrupted drop since July. In Italy where the auto market has remained in negative territory for over a year, new registrations contracted further and plunged -27.6% to 187 687 new units registered.

East European member states contributed to the Union's negative performance as new registrations dropped to +1.2% to 70 089 vehicles pushed down by the largest economy, Poland where registrations declined -7.2% registrations to 27 293. In the Czech Republic, the second largest market, new registrations edged up +0.3% to 17 501 vehicles while Slovenia's inched up +0.2% to 5 909 units and Hungary‘s rose a modest +0.5% to 4 416 cars. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia kept momentum but in lower numbers.

EFTA country's +7.6% new registrations increase to 43 216 vehicles reflected the area's confidence: new registrations climbed +5.6% in Switzerland to 30 107 units, followed by Norway's +12.3% to 12 901 and Iceland's +33.3% to 208 new units.

The Union's quarterly new registrations figures consequently fell -2.3% to 3 583 185 vehicles and mirrored March: except for France and Germany where new registrations rose respectively +8.9% and +13.9% to 647 454 cars and to 763 403 vehicles, new registrations stayed negative in Spain, in Italy, and in the UK. East European member states saw new registrations grow +6.4% to 176 696 vehicles and EFTA countries +11% to 107 204 units.

Per manufacturer and in March year-on-year, PSA Group's new registrations decreased -6.9% to 200 823 vehicles and market share inched down to 12.9% from 13.1%. Renault's -14.6% new registrations drop to 139 441 new units shed over one percentage point market share to 8.9% from 10%. Three months into the year, PSA Group's new registrations fell -5.4% to 482 527 units while Renault's -7.4% new registrations decline totaled 357 631 vehicles. Equally to March, market shares moved down, respectively to 13.5% (from 13.9%) and Renault's to 10% (from 10.5%). The top ten car manufacturers' list inched down to eight automakers, VW, GM Group, BMW, Daimler, Nissan,  Volvo, Mitsubishi and Jaguar land Rover as Hyundai‘s new registrations stayed nearly unchanged or +0.1%. Its market share was however maintained above the previous year-on-year performance.