The European new car market saw its highest August registrations in 20 years due to a major rise in pre-WLTP fleet demand.

The T-Roc helped drive VW’s performance in August

Data from Jato shows that total August registrations rose 30% to 1.17 million units, also marking the highest monthly growth registered in almost a decade, breaking the record seen in November 2009, when volume grew by 25%.

But Jato said that registrations were boosted by stock clearances ahead of the introduction of WLTP – also credited for the 10.0% year-on-year growth seen in July – as shown by unusual results, including booming business and fleet registrations, revealed in a blog post.

Data for 15 countries shows business/fleet purchases posted a 38% increase in August, jumping from 53% of total registrations in Aug-17 to 59% last month. This is in comparison to registration growth of 11% in July and 5% in June. In contrast, private registrations increased by 11% in August, counting for 41% of the total.

Jato added that this change was more evident in Spain, Netherlands, France and Austria, where business/fleet registrations grew by 86%, 65%, 54% and 54% respectively. The highest market share for business/fleet registrations were seen in Czech Republic (76%), Slovenia (75%) and Finland (73%).

In addition, the segments that traditionally post timid growth, such as subcompacts and compacts, also recorded strong growth, up by 25% and 21% respectively. There was also an unusual 2% growth in the MPV segment, where volume has been on a near constant decline during the last years.

“The evidence of the WLTP effect shows how ill prepared car makers were, and it will be interesting to see how car makers continue to respond to WLTP in the coming months.” said Felipe Munoz, JATO’s global analyst.

Only the top three of the top 10 bestselling brands outperformed the market’s average growth. Volkswagen’s volume was up by 45%, boosted by the business/fleet registrations, which increased by 56%, but also the continuing popularity of the T-Roc, which became the 15th best-selling car in August.

Renault also saw a big increase of 72% to almost 100,000 units. While its private registrations jumped by 33%, business/fleet registrations doubled and now count for 61% of total volume. Audi, ranked third, was up by 33%, boosted by business/fleet registrations, which counted for 73% of the total and increased the volume by 55%.

The impact of business/fleet registrations was also seen in fuel type, as diesel registrations increased in the business/fleet channels – up 13% against a 10% drop in private registrations. However, the biggest boost was seen in the business/fleet registrations of gasoline cars, which soared by 68%.