New car sales in the European Union rose in September

According to the report European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), in September 2019, EU demand for new passenger cars increased by 14.5% to reach 1.2 million units registered in total. To a large extent, this strong year-on-year growth is the result of a low base of comparison, as registrations fell significantly in September 2018 (-23.5%) following the introduction of the WLTP testing regime.

Last month, all EU member states posted increases, except for Bulgaria. Four of the five major EU markets even recorded double-digit gains: Germany (+22.2%), Spain (+18.3%), France (+16.6%) and Italy (+13.4%). By contrast, in the United Kingdom market recovery was very limited (+1.3%), as Brexit-related uncertainties continued to affect consumer confidence.

Over the first nine months of 2019, new car registrations were down 1.6% compared to the same period the year before. Despite demand recovering across the European Union in September, Germany (+2.5%) was the only major market to post positive results so far this year. Spain (-7.4%) saw the strongest drop, followed by the United Kingdom (-2.5%), Italy (-1.6%) and France (-1.3%).