BARCELONA (Agefi-Dow Jones)–New car registrations in the European Union (EU) suffered their sharpest decline in more than a year in March, penalized by the Easter weekend and the slowdown in request.
Registrations of new vehicles in the EU fell by 5.2% in March, to 1 million units, the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (Acea) said on Thursday. This is the first drop in registrations in 2024 and the most marked since November 2022.
Registrations of the main European car manufacturers decreased, by 9% for Volkswagen, by 13% for Stellantis and by 2.1% for Renault. Premium car manufacturers Mercedes-Benz and BMW saw their registrations fall by 1.7% and 6.7% respectively in March.
The four main automotive markets in the EU recorded a decline in their registrations, by 6.2% in Germany, by 4.7% in Spain, by 3.7% in Italy and by 1.5% in France.
Electric vehicle registrations followed the same trend, falling 11% in March.
-David Sachs, The Wall Street Journal
(French version and contribution Aurélie Henri) ed: VLV
Agefi-Dow Jones The Financial Newswire
Dow Jones Newswires
April 18, 2024 02:25 ET (06:25 GMT)