European new car sales in record LOW

European new car registrations have plunged to their LOWEST level on record after slow August sales reversed an upturn in July.

Registrations of 7,841,596 new cars between January-August 2013 marked a new low for the European new car market of 27 countries – so few cars have never previously been recorded since records began in 1990.

2013 UK new car sales forecast revised upwards

European new car sales continue to struggle

The UK new car market is the sole exception: so far this year, new car registrations have risen 10.4%, compared to the European decline of 5.2% in the same time period.

British new car registrations contrasted to Europe in August too: they grew 10.9%, compared to a decline of 5.5% in Germany, 6.6% in Italy, 10.5% in France and a worrying 18.3% in Spain (and the market was already low).

Indeed, analysts have today revealed more BICYCLES were sold in Spain than cars in 2012.

In August, there were some surprising declines, with VW Group sales falling 11.2% and VW itself dropping a startling 17.3%. It wasn’t good news for Peugeot Citroen either: Citroen was down 16.5% and Peugeot was down 17.9%.

Other mainstream brands fared better: Ford only declined 1.5% and Vauxhall Opel was down 3.4%.

It was three cheers for Jaguar too – the British premium car brand grew an impressive 59% in August. Admittedly this was still a sub-1,000-car sales level, but 943 models registered was significantly better than 593 in 2012. Year to date, Jaguar sales are up 18.6%.

The biggest loser is a one-time premium rival for Jaguar: Alfa Romeo was down a staggering 24.6% in August 2013, and has plunged 31.2% year to date in 2013. How long can such poor volumes be sustained?

The UK’s top 10 best-selling cars of 2012

By motoringresearch.com