A MAJOR new report suggests that used car sales across Europe remain static.

The 2002 Used Car Market Report from BCA Europe and Fleet News Europe's sister-company Sewells International shows that used car sales totalled 28 million in 2001, against 27.9 million in 2000.

The report said: 'For the third year running, Germany leads Europe in terms of used car sales volume, with 7.2 million units sold in 2001 – down from 7.4 million in 2000 and 7.9 million in 1999.

'The figure remains ahead of the UK volume figure of 6.4 million sales in an admittedly smaller marketplace and population. The establishment of European vehicle auctions will stimulate the wholesale market.'

It found that used car sales in France rose to record levels for the second year running with 5.4 million units sold, up from 4.9 million in 2000.

'Diesel has been the success story, accounting for a massive 45.2% of sales,' the report said.

Other findings include:

In Italy, used volumes remained static at 2.5 million, just ahead of new volumes.

For the third year, the Netherlands market remained at 1.9 million units.

Belgium's used car volumes also remained static at 660,000 – seeing the halt of two years of 'modest decline'.

Denmark saw a small fall in used sales, down from 394,000 in 2000, to 390,000 in 2001.

Norwegian used car sales grew marginally to 310,000 units in 2001.

In Austria, the used car market rose slightly to 757,000, an increase of just 6,000 units.

Portuguese motorists continued to support their market strongly with 713,000 used cars bought in 2001 – a second consecutive year of growth.

The Spanish used car market demonstrated a 'sizeable increase in volume', with 8% growth year-on-year. A total of 1.71 million units were sold, up 130,000 over 2000.

The report added: 'For the first time the Spanish new and used car volumes are beginning to diverge, and with a parc of 17.4 million and a population in excess of 40 million, the market has plenty of room for growth.'

On the Danish market, the report said: 'It is still experiencing the shake-out from two years ago, when a struggling new car market was fuelled by over-optimistic part-exchange values being written by franchised dealers. The net result was a large tranche of over-valued used stock that has taken time to pass through the system.'

Further information about the Used Car Market 2002 report: tel +44 (0) 1733 468255.