Brussels, 16/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - Registrations of new cars decreased by 1.4% in the first month of 2011 compared to the same month last year, according to figures provided by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) published on Wednesday 16 February. According to ACEA, the sale of new cars has been plunging for several months due to the termination of the scrapping premium set up by governments to support the automobile sector during the crisis: they fell by 3.2% in December, 7.1% in November and even 16.6% in October 2010.
New registrations in the EU reached a total of 1,041,650 units in January (except in Malta and Cyprus, which do not have any figures available). There are considerable disparities between sales trends in the different countries. In Germany and France, the two main automobile markets, sales were on the increase: +16,5% to 211,056 units and +8.2% to 158,521 units respectively. On the other hand, sales plunged by 11.5% to 128,811 units in the United Kingdom, by 20.7% to 164,356 units in Italy and by 23.5% to 53,632 units in Spain. (A.By./transl.fl)