EU car registrations edge up in May after eight consecutive months of declines

The European Union's passenger car market recorded a modest increase (+0.1%) in May, but only after eight consecutive months of declines, the latest report from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association revealed.

Demand in the region was mainly driven by Central European countries, where registrations increased by 6.2%.

It was a wholly different story in the five major Western European markets: with demand in Spain down by -7.3%, that in the United Kingdom by -4.6% and in Italy by -1.2%, although in Germany they rose by 9.1% and in France by 1.2%.

Indeed, in the first five months of the year, new car registrations across the European Union fell by 2.1% when compared to the year before to reach 6.7m units.

Outside of Germany, the five big EU markets had all posted slight declines thus far in 2019.

Pantheon Macroeconomics´s Claus Viestesen said: "Looking ahead, we reckon the headline growth rate in the EZ will deteriorate further as base effects from last year’s pre-WLTP jump in sales kick in. Growth should recover towards the end of the year, though.

"The smoothed trend in sales growth is picking up, but it remains below zero, and we think it will reverse in coming months due to base effects. Finally, the trend in these data suggest that sales over the year as a whole will be flat, at the very best."