The European car industry continued to grow in August 2017, with new registrations for the month totalling 899,272 units, which was an increase of 5.4% on the same period last year.
This was thanks to good results for the month in France, Italy and Spain, which made up for a fall in registrations experienced in the UK. The VW Golf remained Europe’s most popular by a huge margin.
Notably, Poland recorded an outstanding result for the month, registering a significant 21.8% increase in volume, placing it only 1,000 units behind Belgium, Europe’s sixth largest market. Poland’s strong economic performance is the reason behind this boost to its car market and it is clear that this growth will continue.
August is usually a quiet month for car registrations and average monthly sales for August for the last 5 years were 31% lower than the total monthly average.
Italy is the market that feels the biggest effects of the summer, with its registrations for August being 50% lower than its typical monthly average.
Other markets that are also significantly impacted by the summer holidays include France, where registrations for August are 40% lower than the typical monthly average, followed by Croatia (-37%), Portugal (-31%), Greece (-29%) and Spain (-26%).
In contrast, Romania’s registrations for August are 34% higher than its typical monthly average.