EU September Passenger Car Sales Plummet

Whistling past the under construction auto sales graveyard?

During September 2018, registrations of new passenger cars in the European Union fell by 23.5%. ACEA claims this should not come as a surprise, as the introduction of the new WLTP test at the beginning of last month caused an exceptional surge in registrations in August (+31.2%). As a result, most EU countries suffered double-digit losses in September, including the five major markets.

During the first nine months of 2018, EU demand for passenger cars remained positive (+2.5%), in line with growth expectations for this year. Looking at the five biggest markets, demand went up in Spain (+11.7%), France (+6.5%) and Germany (+2.4%), while car sales contracted in Italy (-2.8%) and in the BREXIT plagued United Kingdom (-7.5%).