In July 2019, demand for new passenger cars increased by 1.4%, with almost 1.3 million units registered across the European Union according to the latest figures by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association.
Looking at the five largest European markets, Germany was the only major car market to post positive results (+4.7%). The region-wide increase was largely supported by the Central European countries, where registrations went up 13.4% in July.
During the month of August, the EU passenger car market contracted by 8.4%. This is mainly the result of the high base of comparison, as August 2018 saw exceptional growth (+31.2%) ahead of the introduction of the new WLTP emissions test on 1 September 2018. The top five EU markets all recorded decreases, with the strongest drops in Spain (-30.8%) and France (-14.1%).
Over the first eight months of 2019, new-car demand in the EU went down by 3.2% compared to the same period last year, counting 10.5 million registrations in total. Germany (+0.9%) posted a slightly positive result so far this year, but the other major EU car markets saw demand falling.
