NEW car sales across Europe for the year to date are up by more than 2% on the same period last year, latest figures show.

Nine EU-15 countries reported growth, ranging from a 17.8% increase in Belgium to 0.8% in Austria, while the remaining six countries posted losses, varying from -4.3% in the UK and -0.7% in Spain. The figures produced by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) showed that for the month of May, new car sales were up by 9.6% to 1,422,408 units.

Country Jan-May 06 Jan-May 05 Variance
Austria 139,513 138,362 +0.8%
Belgium 279,493 237,356 +17.8%
Denmark 64,849 59,431 +9.1%
Finland 71,201 72,019 -1.1%
France 885,492 904,346 -2.1%
Germany 1,412,118 1,372,647 +2.9%
Greece 126,031 127,850 -1.4%
Ireland 129,534 122,553 +5.7%
Italy 1,115,356 991,326 +12.5%
Luxembourg 25,553 24,372 +4.8%
Netherlands 238,233 228,812 +4.1%
Portugal 88,046 90,193 -2.4%
Spain 643,789 648,012 0.7%
Sweden 115,892 110,712 +4.7%
UK 1,022,424 1,068,862 -4.3%
European Union 6,357,524 6,196,853 +2.6%
Iceland 7,983 7,143 +11.8%
Norway 43,387 44,996 -3.6%
Switzerland 112,268 112,954 -0.6%
EFTA 163,638 165,093 -0.9%
EU15+EFTA 6,521,162 6,361,946 +2.5%
Czech Republic 51,004 53,896 -5.4%
Estonia 9,360 8,305 +12.7%
Hungary 79,531 75,674 +5.1%
Latvia 9,028 5,825 +55.0%
Lithuania 5,136 4,212 +21.9%
Poland 98,810 106,218 -7.0%
Slovakia 24,138 22,312 +8.2%
Slovenia 28,340 27,688 +2.4%
EU new members 305,347 304,130 +0.4%
European Union* 6,662,871 6,500,983 +2.5%
Total Europe (EU+EFTA)** 6,826,509 6,666,076 +2.4%

* Data for Malta and Cyprus not available ** ACEA estimates