NEW car sales across Europe have fallen slightly for the year, although 15 countries in the EU-23 posted growth.

The remaining eight have reported losses ranging from -2.3% in Belgium to -32.8% in Poland.

Sales for the month of June were up by 4.5%, latest figures produced by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) have shown.

An ACEA spokesman said: ‘Thanks to the encouraging result of June, the drop in cumulative figures for the first semester of the year has fallen to -1.1% in total Europe and 0.2% in the EU-15.’

And commenting on sales performances during June, the spokesman said: ‘Four out of the five main markets posted growth: Italy (+18%), Germany (+8.2%), France (+2.7%) and Spain (+1.8%), while only the UK reported a loss (-4.8%).

‘With regard to Italy, the June figure has been positively impacted by the many deliveries of new cars that could not happen in May because of a month-long strike of car transporters.’

Country Jan-June 05 Jan-June 04 Variance
Austria 170,763 169,913 +0.5%
Belgium 286,397 293,271 -2.3%
Denmark 72,985 58,509 +29.7%
Finland 86,286 83,605 +3.2%
France 1,127,947 1,067,807 +5.6%
Germany 1,696,797 1,656,116 +2.5%
Greece 153,449 166,811 -8.0%
Ireland 137,163 121,484 +12.9%
Italy 1,223,423 1,291,534 -5.3%
Luxembourg 28,667 28,471 +0.7%
Netherlands 273,885 285,204 -4.0%
Portugal 115,104 105,904 +8.7%
Spain 809,708 789,519 +2.6%
Sweden 137,166 135,495 +1.2%
UK 1,296,485 1,376,565 -5.8%
EU15 7,616,225 7,630,208 -0.2%
Iceland 9,687 6,409 +51.1%
Norway 54,875 55,317 -0.8%
Switzerland 133,485 144,709 -7.8%
Czech Republic 77,991 72,324 +7.8%
Estonia 9,700 8,976 +8.1%
Hungary 95,789 104,399 -8.2%
Latvia 7,257 5,296 +37%
Lithuania 5,022 4,757 +5.6%
Poland 129,463 192,730 -32.8%
Slovakia 27,958 27,905 +0.2%
Slovenia 33,568 35,452 -5.3%
EU new members 386,748 451,839 -14.4%
Total Europe (EU and EFTA) 8,201,020 8,288,482 -1.1%