With the dismal economic backdrop continuing to hamper sales, the percentage fall translating into a selling rate of under 11.4 million units/year. As a result the company continues to forecast a market fall of 4%, meaning 2013 would finish at around 11.3 million units, some 3.5 million units below the 2007 result.

Looking at the individual markets, sales in Germany were down by 10.5%, with the year-to-date market was down by 9.6%. By comparison to a year ago when registrations were still fairly robust, 2013 appears much worse. LMC adds that the coming months will remain subdued, with the year-on-year results picking up a little in the second half of the year, helped by an improving economy and comparisons to a weaker second half of 2012. The company forecasts the market to fall to circa 3.0 million units for 2013.

The French market was again somewhat weaker than a year ago, with sales down 12.2% to 143,366 units, although the selling rate of over 1.7 million units per year for the month was at least better than January's.

An improving selling rate was also apparent in Italy, although the latest month’s result, at 1.2 million units/year points to another tough year for that market. Actual sales were down 17.4% to 108,419 units.

The selling rate crept over 700,000 units/year in Spain. The market will continue to be boosted by scrappage incentive support, thanks to an extension to the PIVE scheme introduced in October. Actual sales were down 9.8% to 58,373 units.

The UK continues to stand alone among the major car markets in Western Europe, reporting yet another improvement (+7.9%), with the private side of the market again the main reason (private retail sales up 29%). While February is historically a weaker month in the UK, prior to the registration plate change in March, the latest results are still encouraging.