Newly released data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, the ACEA, shows that a total of 795,482 new cars were registered last month. Year to date, a total of 1,681,073 units has been recorded, down by 9.5%.

Looking at the major markets, the UK was the only one to post growth (+7.9%), with the downturn in the other significant markets ranging from -9.8% in Spain to -10.5% in Germany, -12.1% in France and -17.4% in Italy.

Growth was also seen in Estonia (+20.0%), Portugal (+8.6%), Greece (+7.6%), Latvia (+6.3%), Belgium (+3.9%), Poland (+0.9%) while the following markets posted the sharpest declines: Cyprus (-45.5%), Netherlands (-26.8%), Finland (-25.8%), Czech Republic (-22.0%) and Slovakia (-18.0%).

Meanwhile year to date, the UK is the only one to sustain demand (+10.3) while Germany (-9.6%) and Spain (-9.7%) performed similarly, compared to the same period a year earlier, and both France (-13.5%) and Italy (-17.3%) recorded a double-digit downturn.

Other markets posting year-to-date growth were predominantly in Central and Eastern Europe and comprise Estonia (+24.6), Belgium (+8.6%), Poland (+4.9%), Portugal (+4.7%) and Denmark (+2.4%).

The markets posting the sharpest year-to-date downturns comprise Cyprus (-33.9%), Netherlands (-29.5%), Finland (-27.1%), Greece (-21.4%), Hungary (-18.5%) and Italy (-17.3%).

Looking at the individual car brands, growth was seen for February from Jaguar (+23.0%), Honda (+20.7%), Dacia (+15.9%), Mazda (+6.1%), Land Rover (+2.2%), Hyundai (+2.0%), SEAT (0.4%) and Smart (+0.5%).

Those seeing the sharpest declines for February included Alfa Romeo (-41.8%), Chevrolet (-39.0%), Lancia/Chrysler (-38.5%), Lexus (-35.6%), Mitsubishi (-24.9%), Ford (-21.0%), Citroen (-17.9%) and Skoda (-13.8%).

Year-to-date, positive performances have been put in by Jaguar (+22.1%), Honda (+15.1%), Dacia (+12.1%), Land Rover (+11.6%), Mazda (+11.6%), BMW (+5.1%), Kia (+2.4%), SEAT (+2.0%) and Mercedes (+1.4%).

Declines year to date included Lexus (-44.2%), Alfa Romeo (-39.4%), Chevrolet (-39.2%), Lancia/Chrysler (-34.9%), Mitsubishi (-32.4%), Ford (-23.3%), Volvo (-17.4%), Citroen (-17.0%), Suzuki (-16.4%) and Peugeot (-12.8%).