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%