February new car sales fell 9.7% year-on-year across the EU, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), and by 9.5% across all European nations according to information supplier Jato.
Both sets of results pointed to a steeper decline than the 2.45% drop experienced in the UK.
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Total new car sales for the 27 EU nations in February stood at 888,878 and at 923,381when the European Free Trade Association (EFTA, comprising Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) is included, according to ACEA
Total sales according to Jato, which includes Serbia and Croatia, were 925,987. The only major discrepancies in individual markets were in Denmark, where ACEA counted 23% (2,591) more units sold, and Romania, where Jato counted 26% (1,056) more units sold.
Year to date, ACEA recorded 1,858,066 units sold in the EU 27, down 8.3% on the same period 2011, and 1,927,113 units sold including EFTA, down 7.8%. Jato recorded 1,932,598 units sold, down 8.1% on the same period the year before.
The UK market differs from all results for the first two months of the year, witnessing a 2.1% rise in sales compared to the same period last year.
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By GlobalDataBest-selling models
The Volkswagen Golf was the best-selling model of February 2012, as it had been in 2011, ahead of the Volkswagen Polo but, of the month’s 10 best-sellers, the Ford Focus was the only one to see a significant year-on-year rise in sales of 20.1%
to 19,681, by Jato figures.
With the Renault Clio, Peugeot 207 and Vauxhall Astra models experiencing a significant drop of more than 5,000 units or 25%, all other models were down, apart from the Volkswagen Passat which saw a 0.4% climb in sales.
By comparison, Volkswagen was the third best-selling brand in the UK for February behind Ford and Vauxhall.
