After showing signs of life in March and April, the EU new car market went back to going sideways in the month of May. Across the EU, registrations were up a paltry 1.3 percent to 1,109,893 units, Europe’s manufacturer association ACEA reports.
Important volume market France was down -3.5 percent, neighboring Germany was down -6.7 percent year-on-year. Spain was up 14.0 percent, Italy 10.8 percent, and the UK 2.4 percent. Five months into the year, new passenger car registrations increased +6.8 percent totaling 5,805,367 units.
Among the manufacturers, Volkswagen lost 2.3 percent in May, PSA is down 5.5 percent, GM’s Opel Group is down 5.2 percent.