The European car market registered its fifth consecutive month of decline in January 2019, as registrations fell by 4.6%. However, it was the lowest monthly decline since the introduction of WLTP in September and the second highest January volume of the last 10 years, as 1.22 million cars were registered.
This overall fall in registrations was largely due to only Romania, Hungary, Denmark, Portugal and Greece recording growth. These are all small markets and not big enough in size to offset drops in the big five markets, or double-digit falls in midsize markets like the Netherlands, Belgium and Czech Republic.
The demise of diesel looks set to continue in 2019, as volume fell by 18% in January and counted for just 33% of total registrations. This came as a result of a big decline in Italy, where volume was down by 30%, meaning the country lost its title of being the biggest market for diesels. The Italian market was outsold by Germany – where demand grew by 8% – the only country to post an increase other than Estonia. Volkswagen, Volvo, Seat and DS were the only brands to post diesel registration increases.
Meanwhile, gasoline cars counted for 58% of total registrations, as volume increased by 2.1%. This marked almost 4 more percentage points than the total recorded in January 2018 and confirms the continuous shift away from diesel and towards gasoline/AFVs.
Please click here to view the full press release.
SOURCE: JATO
