• Market down 9.7% in March

• Market down 1.9% year-to-date

• Peugeot 207 remains Europe’s best-selling car

• VW is Europe’s top-selling brand

The Audi TT - - a product of VW Group, Europe's top carmaker

The European Car Market fell 9.7% in March according to JATO Dynamics, a leading world provider of automotive data and intelligence. Jato said on Tuesday that after a strong start to the year, March has proved to be a more difficult month for the European car market, with drop of 175,738 units compared to the same month last year, posting a total sales volume of 1,631,810 units.

“It’s disappointing to see such a large percentage drop during March but it’s hardly surprising in view of the difficult economic climate that is prevailing in some of the core European markets”, says Nasir Shah, Global Business Development Director at JATO. “Additionally, the March market wasn’t helped by the early arrival of the Easter holiday and the corresponding reduction in available trading days.”

Thanks to the relatively strong market in the first two months of the year, the year-to-date figures are more favourable, with the market down only 1.9% (81,238 units) on last year, to total year-to-date sales of 4,093,307 units.

Shah also comments: “In some respects the March figures are greater than they might otherwise have been thanks to the UK’s registration plate change during the month. This is a peak sales month in the UK and always has the effect of inflating the March figures in Europe.”

Brand Performance

Volkswagen continues its dominance of the European market, heading the sales league in both March and year-to-date, ahead of Ford, Opel/Vauxhall, Renault and Peugeot.

 Top Ten Brands

With the market depressed, most brands suffered reduced sales volumes in March. However, those that recorded increased registrations compared to March 2007 have recorded significant increases, with Nissan up 38.1%, Mini up 21.8%, Dacia up 26.9%, Smart up 91.0%, Dodge up 57.9% and Maserati up 80%.

Year-to-date there are more success stories, including Fiat up 3.2%, BMW up 7.4%, Honda up 1.5%, Mazda up 6.8% and Kia up 4.8% .

Top Models

The Peugeot 207 continues to perform outstandingly well for the French car-maker and was again Europe’s top-selling new car in March with 46,500 units registered,  ahead of the Ford Fiesta (45,666 units), Volkswagen Golf (45,484 units), Opel/Vauxhall Corsa (45,459 units), Ford Focus (45,274 units), Opel/Vauxhall Astra (43,794 units), Renault Clio (39,123 units), Fiat Punto (32,890 units), BMW 3-Series (29,397 units) and Volkswagen Polo (29,356 units). The Fiesta’s performance is particularly impressive given the publicity surrounding its replacement model following its reveal at the Geneva show at the start of March.

Year-to-date the Golf still clinches to the top spot (up 20.4% YtD), followed by the 207 (up 6.7% YtD), Corsa, Focus, Astra, Fiesta, Clio, Punto, Polo (up 1.0% YtD) and Toyota Yaris.

Top Ten Models

National Trends

The European market in March is dominated by the UK registration plate change, but this year the 0.5% increase in UK registrations was not enough to offset the 14.3% fall in Germany, 18.6% fall in Italy and 28.1% fall in Spain. Many other markets also recorded significantly reduced car markets in March.

In percentage terms, Lithuania remains the rising star of the European market, up 51.2% in March and up 67.6% in quarter one. Strong first quarter growth was also recorded in the Czech Republic, Finland, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.