EU passenger automobile market widens slightly in May

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The EU passenger car market in May expanded slightly by 0.1% year-on-year after eight consecutive months of decline, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) on Tuesday.

The rise in the figure was mainly driven by the Central European countries, where registrations went up by 6.2% last month, the association said in a statement.

"By contrast, the five major Western European markets posted mixed results: with demand in Spain (-7.3%), the United Kingdom (-4.6%) and Italy (-1.2%) slowing down, but growing in Germany (+9.1%) and France (+1.2%)," it said.

In the first five months of this year, new car registrations across EU decreased 2.1% compared to the same period last year to 6.7 million units.

The five big EU markets all posted slight declines so far this year, except Germany.