New car registrations in Europe expanded by 4.8% yr/yr in the January-April period, but compared to the first four months of 2008 there was a decline of 11.6%, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) has reported on Monday.

"In the first months of the present year, government support has ended or begun to fade out and the economic situation remains difficult," the ACEA said.

In absolute numbers, more than 1.13 million 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%). *(Figures reported in Poland correspond to sales; registrations are lower by cc. 5% in April and lower by ca.6-7% YTD.)

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%). The dynamic growth is mainly attributable to the extremely poor data in the base period.

In January-April, a total of 4.8 million 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.

New car registrations in Hungary (3,647 in total) were down 45.7% yr/yr in April, less dramatically than in March (-53.3%). In the first four months, the rate of the decline remained high at 52.9% with 13,825 cars sold, but it was smaller than in Q1 (-55.1%).

With regard to EU-wide new car sales, Volkswagen remained in the lead, with a 22.7% market share, although it did gained weight since March (19.8%). Sales of VW Group rose 7.0% yr/yr, more than the whole market (+6.9%).

Renault came in fourth in terms of market share (9.9%), boosting its sales by 33.1% yr/yr in March. PSA Group won silver last month (13.8%) with sales expanding by a mere 2.6% vs. +20% in March. Renault Group boasted the third-largest market share (10.4%), with sales going up by 9% yr/yr.

Of the Far East manufacturers, Nissan stood out again with sales rising 39.6% yr/yr.

The biggest contraction in new car sales was observed at Mitsubishi (-33.5%), Honda (-28.6%), Fiat Group (-26.9%) and Toyota and Chrysler (both -25%)."

Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal