News: Latvia registers the largest increase in new car registrations in Europe

In January 2011, new car registrations in Latvia grew by 126.4 % which is the most rapid increase across Europe according to the latest report by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).

The report summarises data on all Member States of the European Union (EU), except for Cyprus and Malta, including Switzerland, Norway and Iceland as members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

This January 609 new cars were registered in Latvia compared to 269 new car registrations in January 2010. On the contrary, the largest decrease in new car registrations was recorded in Greece – 63.3 %, followed by Spain – 23.5 %, and Italy – 20.7 %.

Overall, 1,072,548 new cars were registered in the European countries covered by the report which was 1.1 % less than in January of the last year.

In EU Member States 1,041,650 new cars were registered – 1.4 % less than in January 2010. Respectively, new car registrations in the original 15 EU Member States decreased by 1.8 % – up to 990,148 units, while in the new EU Member States they grew by 7.4 % – up to 51,502 units.

At the same time new car registrations in the EFTA countries increased by 7.8 %, up to 30,898 units, in January.

Estonia registered 1,161 new cars in January 2011 – by 118.2 % more than in January 2010, while in Lithuania new car registrations grew by 92.7 % – up to 846 units.