In the European Union, new car registrations decreased 6.8% in the first semester, to 6.64 million units, compared with 7.13 million units during the same period a year before, due to the economic status in France and southern Europe, ACEA also said.
Thus, Germany posted a 0.7% increase in the new car registrations, to 1.63 million vehicles in the first semester, while Great Britain a 2.7% rise, to 1.05 million units.
At the opposite end, France’s new car registrations fell 14.4%, to 1.048 million vehicles in the first half of 2012, Italy posted a 19.7% decrease, to 814,179 units, Spain reported a 8.2% fall, to 406,070 units, while Portugal accounted for the highest decrease in new car registrations, by 41.9% to 53,404 units.
In Central and Eastern Europe, Hungary posted a 19.9% rise, to 27,781 units, and the Czech Republic posted a 6.7% increase, to 94,233 vehicles in the first half of 2012.
Slovenia posted the weakest new car registration rate in the region, by 14%, to 28,327 units in the first half of 2012.