Car registrations in the EU rose 8.7% in October as the market settled following the introduction of the WLTP test.

EU car registrations were up 8.7% in October

Data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) shows registrations reached a total of 1,177,746 last month, up on the same month last year due to the low base of comparison; October 2018 saw registrations fall by 7.3% following the September launch of the WLTP test for new cars. As a result, nearly all EU countries posted increases in October, with the exception of Cyprus and the United Kingdom, which fell 6.7%. The UK marked the only major EU market to see a downturn, compared to the gains in Germany (+12.7%), France (+8.7%), Italy (+6.7%) and Spain (+6.3).

From January to October, new car registrations were down 0.7% compared to the first 10 months of 2018. Germany (+3.4%) is the only major European market to record growth so far in 2019, although the Italian (-0.8%) and French (-0.3%) markets have almost recovered to 2018 volumes. The strongest declines were seen in Spain (-6.3%) and the United Kingdom (-2.9%).