FX.co ★ EU shrinking car market hits 20-year low

In the EU, new car sales tumbled to 8.14 million items for the period from January till August,

thus falling to the lowest result on record since 1990. These are the data released by the

European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association on September 17.

The sales dropped by 5.2% as compared to the same period last year. In August 2013, new car

registrations in the EU countries totaled 686 900 that is 4.9% down versus August 2012.

The most considerable sales decline is recorded in Cyprus: here the amount of car sales is 40%

fewer for the period from January till August than for the same period a year ago. Besides, the

huge downturn is marked in the Netherlands and Romania: 31.6% and 17.6% accordingly.

In 2013, among the EU automobile manufacturers, French PS Group suffered the most tangible

decline: its sales plummeted by 12.1%. The opposite trend among wide-scale car producers

concerned Mazda: the demand on its models went 9% up. Jaguar Land Rover, the manufacturer

of premium class cars raised sales by 10%.

2013 might happen to be the 6

going through the demand contraction. However, the EU car market crash stands in contrast to

the sales uplift in the USA where the amount of sales surged by 17% and reckoned 1.5 million

items. In Russia, 232 thousand cars were sold in August. Here the forecast tells that total car

sales might reach 2.8 million items throughout the year.

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year at a stretch when the EU passenger car market has been