THE number of new cars sold across Europe during the first two months of the year has fallen slightly.

Latest figures show that 2,396,741 units were sold across Europe, a fall of 0.3% on the same period last year.

A spokesman for the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which produced the figures, said: ‘Cumulative figures for the year confirm the upturn trend in the new EU member states.’

He added that apart from Bulgaria (-3.2%) and Slovenia (-3.3%), all the remaining countries posted growths ranging from +1% in Hungary to +89.7% in Latvia. The figures are the first to include the countries of Bulgaria and Romania.

Country		Jan-Feb 07		Jan-Feb 06		Variance
Austria		42,974		42,953		0%
Belgium		104,688		112,682		-7.1%
Denmark		21,774		22,010		-1%
Finland		27,467		30,061		-8.6%
France		329,323		329,126		+0.1%
Germany		382,944		439,071		-12.8%
Greece		51,536		50,990		+1.1%
Ireland		72,853		68,617		+6.2%
Italy		472,678		451,184		+4.8%
Luxembourg		8,416		8,390		+0.3%
Netherlands		110,145		109,016		+1.0%
Portugal		28,610		31,077		-7.9%
Spain		237,042		239,509		-1.0%
Sweden		40,925		35,696		+14.6%
UK		239,189		233,359		+2.5%
European Union (EU15)		2,10,564		2,203,741		-1.5%
Iceland		1,921		3,162		-39.2%
Norway		22,478		14,803		+51.8%
Switzerland		36,403		36,047		+1.0%
EFTA		60,802		54,012		+12.6%
EU15+EFTA		2,231,366		2,257,753		-1.2%
Bulgaria		6,731		6,950		-3.2%
Czech Republic		18,339		16,283		+12.6%
Estonia		4,770		3,331		+43.2%
Hungary		27,189		26,930		+1.0%
Latvia		5,156		2,718		+89.7%
Lithuania		2,426		1,823		+33.1%
Poland		44,798		36,834		+21.6%
Romania		37,556		33,272		+12.9%
Slovakia		8,293		7,587		+9.3%
Slovenia		10,117		10,467		-3.3%
EU (new members)		165,375		146,195		+13.1%
European Union*		2,335,939		2,349,936		-0.6%
Total Europe (EU+EFTA)		2,396,741		2,403,948		-0.3%