Car registrations in the EU rose 3.4% in 2017 with all ‘big five’ markets seeing gains bar the UK.

2017 EU car registrations were up in all big five markets bar the UK.

Marking the fourth consecutive year of growth, car registrations totalled 15,137,732 – the first time they’ve exceeded the 15 million mark since 2007, before the economic downturn – latest figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) show.

Among the five big markets, Italy (+7.9%) and Spain (+7.7%) recorded the strongest gains, followed by France (+4.7%) and Germany (+2.7%). By contrast, last year UK registrations fell (-5.7%) for the first time in six years.

The ACEA noted the particularly strong performance of the new EU member states, where registrations went up by 12.8% during the year.

2017’s rise follows a -4.9% decline in December to 1,088,498 units – said to be mainly the result of the fact that December had one working day less in 2017 than in the preceding year. Declines were seen in nearly all major EU markets, apart from Spain (+6.2%). The UK car market posted its ninth straight month of decline, with registrations falling by 14.4% in December.

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