The ACEA reports that EU car sales fell by 7.4% last month compared to April last year. The decline has been linked to the upturn in registrations last year when a growing number of markets had started to benefit from fleet renewal incentives.

In the first months of the present year, however, government support has ended or begun to fade out and the economic situation remains difficult. While ACEA data shows that over the first four months of 2010 the market expanded by 4.8% compared to the same period a year ago, it has declined by 11.6% in comparison to January-April 2008.

In absolute numbers, a total of 1,134,701 new cars were registered in the EU in April. Of the largest markets, Germany registered the largest number of new cars (259,414 units) though new registrations declined the most (-31.7%) percentage wise, followed by Italy (-15.7%), the Czech Republic (-13.2%), Poland (-11.9%) and Austria (-11.6%). The steepest decline was noted in Bulgaria (-50.8%). By contrast, markets expanded in France (+1.9%), the UK (+11.5%), Belgium (+20.3%) and Spain (+39.3%).

Four months into the year, a total of 4,809,647 new passenger cars were registered in the EU, or 4.8% more than in the same period last year. Most of the larger markets increased registrations, ranging from +7.5% in Austria to +12.9% in France, +13.4% in Italy, +23.9% in the UK, +43.2% in Spain and +59.1% in Portugal. Germany (-25.5%) and Poland (-10.5%), however, recorded a decline.