New passenger car registrations in the European Union increased by 1.2% in 2019, reaching a total of more than 15.3 million units, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) announced on Thursday 16 January.
This is the sixth consecutive year of growth.
In particular, demand for passenger cars in the EU grew strongly in December, with an increase of 21.7%, the highest December total ever recorded.
“This was partially the result of a low base of comparison, as registrations fell by 8.4% in December 2018. However, specific market changes also contributed to this exceptional growth”, explains the ACEA.
For example, car sales rose sharply in France (+27.7%) and Sweden (+109.3%), both of which have announced major changes to the bonus-malus component of the CO2-based tax for 2020. They also increased sharply in the Netherlands after Amsterdam decided to increase the taxation of company electric cars from 4% to 8% beginning in January 2020.
Looking at the five largest EU markets in 2019, Germany (+5.0%) recorded the highest increase, followed by France (+1.9%) and Italy (+0.3%). In contrast, demand for passenger cars fell in Spain (-4.8%) and the United Kingdom (-2.4%). (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)