European car sales tumbled by 14.5% in October. The falls were led by Ireland with sales plunging 54.6%. Latvia reported a 55.1% fall and in Spain demand fell 40%.

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said that reflecting the financial and economic crisis, new car registrations have now decreased for six consecutive months, most notably since the summer. Cumulative figures over January to October show a minus of 5.4%.

October new car registrations in Europe reached a total of 1,134,031 units. Registrations over the first ten months of the year added up to 12,852,387 new vehicles. No calendar effect occurred in October as the number of working days were about the same compared to 2007 across the whole region.

Markets in Western Europe registered 1,034,955 new cars in October, or 15.5% less compared to last year. With the exception of Austria (+4.0%), all markets contracted. The Irish and the Spanish markets continued their sharply downward trend, plummeting -54.6% and -40.0% respectively in October, and down -18.2% and -23.8% over the first ten months of the year. In Spain, registrations in October were the lowest since 1995.

 In the UK, demand for new cars was down 23.0%, with cumulative results from January to October showing an 8.8% decline. For the tenth consecutive month, new registrations were down on the Italian market (-18.9%), resulting in a 12.0% drop in the cumulative results. In Germany, October new car registrations were 8.2% lower than the already weak result of last year. In France, the market recorded a 7.4% fall. Ten months into 2008, both Germany and France still have a stable number of newly registered cars compared to 2007, recording a +0.3% and +2.2% change respectively over the year onto October.

Registrations of new cars in the new EU Member States also declined in October (-3.3%), with cumulative results holding grounds at a 2.5% plus over the first ten months of the year. The Polish market expanded in October (+12.3%), as well as from January to October (+9.0%), consolidating its position as the largest market in the region. Romania, despite a 10.6% fall in October remained the second biggest market.

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