The positive year-on-year sales trend for new
passenger cars in the UK has continued in contrast to registrations
throughout the rest of Europe, according to statistics from the
ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association) and Jato
Dynamics.

The UK was also the only market across the 27
EU nations (excluding Malta) to post growth year-to-date, up by
3.3%, against a continental average drop of around 7.1%. Across the
30 European nations surveyed by Jato, the decline was 6.9%.

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Across the 27 EU nations (excluding Malta),
new car registrations were down 2.8% in June, compared to the same
month last year, down 7.8% in July and 8.9% in August, according to
the ACEA. The drop was 8.4% by Jato figures. At the same time, UK
new car registrations were up
3.5% in June,
9.3% in July and
0.1% in August, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers
and Traders (SMMT).

Dry summer

The UK was also the only nation in the EU 27
to post a gain in July compared to July 2011, with the increase
prompting the SMMT to revise its prediction for total annual new
sales up to 1,970,000 units. By contrast, the German market fell by
5% in July, France by 0.7% and Italy by 21%.

Spain was the only other nation to record a
gain, up 3.6% to 48,820 units, in August as the German market again
fell by 4.7% to 226,455 units, France by 11.4% to 96,067 units and
Italy by 20.2% to 56,868 units.

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Year-to-date, the German new passenger car
market was down 0.6% to 2.1m units, Spain down 8.5% to 0.6m units,
France down 13.4% to 1.5m units and Italy down 19.9% to 1.2m
units.

Europe by
brand

Despite dropping 4% in sales year-on-year in
August and 1.9% year-to-date, Volkswagen remained Europe’s
best-selling marque with 104,253 units registered in the month, and
1.1m units for the first eight months of the year, according to
Jato figures. In the UK, Volkswagen is the third-best seller behind
Ford and Vauxhall.

The dominance of the marque was assured by the
performance of the Golf and Polo models, the two best-selling cars
for the month. Although the Golf may be the best-selling model of
the year so far, the Ford Fiesta is second, narrowly ahead of the
Polo. By contrast, the Focus and the Fiesta, with the Vauxhall
Corsa between them, were the top-selling models in the UK, all
above the Golf and Polo.

Although Audi was the second-best-selling
brand for the month, with 47,507 units registered, it is currently
sixth for the year-to-August behind Ford, Opel/Vauxhall, Renault
and Peugeot in that order.

richard.brown@vrlfinancialnews.com