Registrations of new cars rose by 5.4% in September, recovering from an August skid, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA: Association des Constructeurs Europeens d'Áutomobiles) announced Wednesday. However, car sales last month were still at the second lowest level for the month of September in over 10 years, according to ACEA.

Sales rose sharply in Spain, up by 28.5% compared with September 2012, to be followed by Ireland where 27.9% more cars were bought, and Portugal with 15.9% higher sales.

In September, demand for new cars in the EU* was up 5.4%, amounting to 1,159,066 units, from the record low volumes registered in September 2012**. The month counted on average one more working day across the EU this year, compared to the last. From January to September, new car registrations declined by 3.9%, compared to the first nine months of 2012, with a total of 9,000,629 vehicles.

In September, most major markets posted growth, from +3.4% in France to +12.1% in the UK and +28.5% in Spain. Italy (-2.9%) and Germany (-1.2%) saw their new car registrations decrease. Overall, the EU* market expanded by 5.4% compared to the same month last year, despite recording the second lowest level for a month of September**.

Nine months into the year, the UK was the only significant market to record an increase (+10.8%). Downturn prevailed across other major markets, ranging from -1.6% in Spain to -6.0% in Germany, -8.3% in Italy and -8.5% in France, leading to an overall 3.9% contraction in the EU*, compared to the first nine months of 2012.

Tables (models/brands etc; pdf)

* EU27, data for Malta unavailable
** since ACEA recorded new registrations in the EU27 in 2003 (prior to enter of Croatia).

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