Ups and downs across ‘Big 5’

Car registrations in Europe’s ‘Big 5’ markets saw a small decrease of 0.5% in October 2016, with total registrations for the month at 829,980 – slightly down from the 834,464 registrations seen in October 2015.

However, year-to-date registrations totalled 9,339,623 at the end of October – a 6.6% increase when compared to the same period in 2015.

The biggest falls were seen in Germany and France, whose registrations decreased by 5.6% and 4.4% respectively. Despite this, the car market in both France and Germany has grown considerably in 2016, with year to date registrations up by 4.6% and 4.9% respectively.

Elsewhere, Italy, Spain and the UK all posted modest growth. Italy grew by 9.7%, with rental registrations increasing by 44.6%, compared to the same time last year. Private registrations were the only negative performers in Italy during October, posting a decrease of four per cent. The UK managed a small growth of 1.4% thanks to low interest rates, affordable finance packages and a wider variety of new models. Spain’s growth of 3.3% was modest compared to previous months, due to one less working day in the month, and the end of the PIVE plan (Efficient Vehicles Incentives Plan in Spanish) which affected private registrations.

‘The small decline last month shows that the European car market is reaching its peak in terms of volume.

‘It is noteworthy that despite the declines seen in the German and French markets last month, the European car market is still growing overall for the year to date. However, we expect to see only moderate growth in Europe’s Big 5 markets over the coming months as the market stabilises following a strong year so far,’ said Felipe Munoz, Global Automotive analyst at JATO Dynamics.

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