With 1,354,464 new cars registered, July has brought a 7.4% upswing to the European (EU27+EFTA) new passenger car market. In particular, the EU15 improved its result for the first time this year (+6%). The new EU member states remained on a fast growth track (+26.3%). The overall result was positively influenced by one extra working day across the whole region (two in Belgium and France). Although to a lesser extent, new car registrations rose again in August (+2.5%), in spite of the same number of working days as last year. Overall, after first eight months, there were +1% more new cars registered in the EU as compared with 2006.

West European growth in July was mostly driven by three of the main markets: France (+21%), Italy (+10.7%) and the UK (+4.9%) while Germany slowed down (–2.7%) and Spain remained on the same level as last year. Apart from Austria (–7%) and Finland (–2.1%), registrations in all other countries rose. Poland (+28.2%), Romania (+46%) and Lithuania (+64%) were among the new members states which performed best.

In August new car registrations grew only slightly in the EU15 (+0.5%), mainly due to a decline on almost all the main markets. Solid growth on Italian market (+6.8%) counterbalanced slipping registrations in the UK (–0.4%), Germany (–2.2%), France (–2.4%) and Spain (–2.7%). Among the remaining countries, registrations in the Netherlands (+20.2%) and in Greece (+11.7%) increased most. All the new member states positively contributed to their overall result (+14.2%).

Cumulative figures for the first eight months of 2007 showed an upward trend in the European new car registrations (+1%) although the situation country by country was mixed. While Italian (+7.3%) and British (+2.2%) markets expanded, French market remained flat and Germany (–7.6%) and Spain (–1.5%) suffered losses. The majority of the new member states managed to boost their new car registrations, with substantial increases on the two biggest markets in the region: Poland (+24.6%) and Romania (+29.2%).
 

Fiat Group has seen a successful summer in the showrooms. In July it saw 105,594 of its new vehicles being registered, up 8.6% year-on-year, and raising its share of the European market from 7.7 to 7.8%. All the brands were in positive territory during July with the Fiat brand (including Fiat Professional) up 9.1% (81,594 units), Lancia was also up, by 9.1% (10,380 units), and Alfa Romeo climbed 4.8% (13,086 units).

Last month saw Fiat's year long positive run continuing, with the Turinese carmaker up 8.4% on August 2006 with 63,162 vehicles sold, shifting its share of the European market for 6.3 to 6.6% year-on-year. August is traditionally a quiet month in Italy meaning that Fiat's overall European sales during this month are much lower than the other months of the year. Of the Fiat brands, Fiat (including Fiat Professional) had an impressive month, up 11.1% year-on-year with 49,386 units registered, while Alfa Romeo was up slightly (+0.6%) with 7,640 of its sporty cars sold. Lancia wasn't able to keep up its recent good run of sales, slipping 1.0% after shifting 5,874 units.

For the year-to-date the Fiat Group has sold 865,974 new vehicles, up 7.7 pct on the same period of last year when it saw 804,348 new registrations. This puts Fiat's share of the overall European market up from 7.5 to 8.0%. For YTD Fiat is up by 8.8 pct (671,079 units), Alfa Romeo is up 1.8% (102,783 units) while Lancia is up 6.7% (88,188 units). For the first 8 months of the year the Fiat brand is up 5.8 to 6.2%, while Alfa Romeo (0.9%) and Lancia (0.8%) are unchanged year-on-year.