The European car market grew in the month of February: compared to the same month in 2007, growth was at 8.7%, mostly due the extra working day in 2008. Total cars sold was 1,180,842 units. Western Europe posted a 7.7% growth while the newer states, continuing a long-running trend, are growing at a much faster pace of 20.5%.

Germany virtually doubled its rate from January, posting a resounding 24.8%, or 228,623 cars. Spain remained stable at 0.7%, Italy was down 3.9% as was Great Britain at 5.4%, confirming the negative trend of the previous month and representing a quarter of Western Europe. On the whole in the first two months of the year sales grew by 2.7% in the Western countries and by 3.8% overall.

A glance at Eastern Europe shows growth in the four principal markets of 28.1% in Poland, 37.1% in Romania, 7.1% in Hungary and 15.8% in the Czech Republic. Figures show impressive growth across the board, apart from in Latvia where there was an overall fall of 18.6%.

(no votes)

0 comments