The European auto market contracted 1.4% in January-November, to 12.157 million new registrations. In November alone, the market declined 3.5%, to 1.03 million new registrations.
The EU market declined mainly because of problems in the eurozone. The Italian market saw the sharpest decline in volume, while Greece posted the steepest decline percentage wise (-33%), followed by Portugal (-27%) and Spain (-18.8%).
The Romanian auto market declined 9.8% in January-November, to 73,998 new registrations. In November alone, the market fell 10.1% compared with November 2010, to 10,279 new registrations.
Registrations of Romanian carmarker Dacia in the Eurpena Union declined 4.6% in January-November, to 227,839 cars, but were up 5.7% in November, to 25,373 cars, according to ACEA. In Romania, the local carmaker’s registrations declined 22.2% in January-November, to 21,314 units, according to the Romanian Interior ministry’s vehicle license and registration department.
The decline on the European market mostly affected PSA Peugeot Citroen (-8.2%), Dacia’s owner Renault (-7.9%), Fiat (-11.9%), Toyota (-8.1%) and Ford (-3.7%). Volkswagen, the biggest European carmaker and second-biggest worldwide, saw a 7.4% increase in new registrations in the first 11 months of the year in the EU, to 2.824 million cars.