The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA - - Association des Constructeurs Europeens d'Áutomobiles ), which represents the interests of the fifteen European car, truck and bus manufacturers at EU level, reported today that new passenger car registrations in the EU (ex- Cyprus and Malta)  increased by 3.0% in February, and by 7.9% over the first two months of the year, compared to the same period in 2009 - -  despite a sales plunge in Germany following the end of the publicly funded car scrappage scheme.

With the same average number of working days across the region in February, no calendar effect occurred. Compared to the pre-crisis levels of January and January-February 2008, new car registrations decreased by 15% and 16% respectively.

In February, a total of 974,346 new cars were registered in Europe, or 3.0% more than in February 2009. A decrease in Europe’s second largest market Germany (-29.8%), was countered by an increase in the other major markets. Under the continued influence of government fleet renewal incentives, France recorded 18.2% more registrations in February, Italy +20.6%, the UK +26.4% and Spain +47.0%. Romania, Hungary and Poland saw registrations decrease by 63.0%, 57.9% and 19.2%.

Irish car sales amounted to 12,306 units in February  - -  up 38.5% compared with February 2009. In the first two months of 2009, Irish sales were up 16.9%.

Two months into the year, the EU registered 2,033,753 new passenger cars, or 7.9% more than in the same period a year ago. In absolute figures, Italy registered the most vehicles (407,580 units), followed by Germany (376,035 units), France (352,013 units), the UK (214,165 units) and Spain (161,411 units). Germany was the only larger market to contract (-19.5%) from January to February. The market expanded by 16.3% in France, 25.5% in Italy, 28.7% in the UK and 32.9% in Spain.