The latest figures issued by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) show that European Union (EU) new car registrations recorded in April this year totaled 1.02 million units, down by 6.9 percent compared to April 2011, indicating a year-on-year decrease for the seventh consecutive month. In April, new car registrations in the EU fell by 30 percent compared to the previous month of this year.
In April this year, the UK and Germany were the only major markets to post year-on-year growth with increases of 3.3 percent and 2.9 percent respectively, while France contracted by 1.9 percent. Meanwhile, Italy and Spain recorded double-digit downturns on year-on-year basis, with decreases of 18 percent and 21.7 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, in the first four months of this year, new car registrations totaled 4.3 million units in the EU, with a decrease of 7.5 percent from the same period of 2011. In particular, in the first four months of 2012, Germany (1.8 percent) and the UK (1.4 percent) saw their markets expand slightly, while Spain dropped seven percent, and France (-17.5 percent) and Italy (-20.2 percent) posted significant contractions, all compared to the same period last year.