European New Car Market Grows 2.7% to May 2006

Year-to-date growth was significantly higher than in April, due to an overall rise of 10.6% in the European market for new cars in May 2006 (a total volume for the month of 1,455,421 units).

An increase of more than 50% in the Italian market in May was linked to last year’s strike by car transporter drivers, which caused a severe drop in comparative registrations in May 2005. The large increase seen in May 2006 marked a return to normality, although the 12.4% year-to-date growth in Italy suggested that the market would be ahead of last year without this issue.

The Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia continued to record significant growth in their new car markets, as did Belgium and Denmark. The market in Iceland, which had shown remarkable growth for many months, declined by over 12% in May but remained more than 17% ahead of last year for the YTD.

Ireland and Sweden recorded increased markets in May and for the YTD. The market in Poland fell in May and YTD after showing a rise in April. The markets of France, Portugal, Slovenia and Switzerland all recorded slightly reduced registrations in May and for the YTD

Diesel’s share of the total European market continued to increase slowly and is now approaching 50%. Only Austria and Slovenia recorded declines in diesel penetration for both May and for YTD.

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