European car market revs up in summer

AFP, PARIS: The European car market booked its best-ever August in 10 years this year, with new registrations jumping by 5.6 per cent last month, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association ACEA said yesterday.

A total of 865,000 new cars were registered on Europe’s roads in August, ACEA calculated in figures released as the industry’s biggest showcase in Europe, the IAA car show, opens its doors to the general public in Frankfurt.

The region’s major markets of Italy and Spain booked the strongest increases—of 15.8 per cent and 13 per cent respectively. France and Germany came next, clocking up growth in new registrations of 8.4 per cent and 3.5 per cent.

But demand for cars in Britain, which is negotiating to leave the bloc, skidded 6.4 per cent lower, ACEA said.

Taking the first eight months as a whole, “demand for passenger cars maintained momentum throughout Europe,” the organisation continued.

“With more than 10 million new vehicles registered across the EU, registrations went up by 4.5 per cent compared to the same period last year.”

Again, while Italy, Spain, France and Germany all saw demand increase across the January-August period, Britain “registered a slight decline” of 2.4 per cent.

As German Chancellor Angela Merkel was scheduled to open the IAA, ACEA calculated that German auto giant VW remains Europe’s biggest carmaker, commanding 23.6 per cent of the market over the January-August period.

But it nevertheless saw its market share eroded slightly as it continues to battle the so-called “Dieselgate” scandal in which it admitted to installing emissions-cheating software into 11 million diesel engines worldwide.

French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen, the region’s number two, saw its market share increase by 0.4 percentage point to 10.6 per cent as it integrated Opel and Vauxhall, the German and British makers it recently acquired from General Motors, ACEA said.

European car market revs up in summer

AFP, PARIS: The European car market booked its best-ever August in 10 years this year, with new registrations jumping by 5.6 per cent last month, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association ACEA said yesterday. A total of 865,000 new cars were registered on Europes roads in August, ACEA calculated in figures released as the industrys biggest showcase in Europe, the IAA car show, opens its doors to the general public in Frankfurt. The regions major markets of Italy and Spain booked the strongest increasesof 15.8 per cent and 13 per cent respectively. France and Germany came next, clocking up growth in new registrations of 8.4 per cent and 3.5 per cent. But demand for cars in Britain, which is negotiating to leave the bloc, skidded 6.4 per cent lower, ACEA said. Taking the first eight months as a whole, demand for passenger cars maintained momentum throughout Europe, the organisation continued. With more than 10 million new vehicles registered across the EU, registrations went up by 4.5 per cent compared to the same period last year. Again, while Italy, Spain, France and Germany all saw demand increase across the January-August period, Britain registered a slight decline of 2.4 per cent. As German Chancellor Angela Merkel was scheduled to open the IAA, ACEA calculated that German auto giant VW remains Europes biggest carmaker, commanding 23.6 per cent of the market over the January-August period. But it nevertheless saw its market share eroded slightly as it continues to battle the so-called Dieselgate scandal in which it admitted to installing emissions-cheating software into 11 million diesel engines worldwide. French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen, the regions number two, saw its market share increase by 0.4 percentage point to 10.6 per cent as it integrated Opel and Vauxhall, the German and British makers it recently acquired from General Motors, ACEA said.