ACEA: European automotive market registers a 7.4pct drop in sales, in January

New vehicles registrations decreased by 7.4 percent in Europe (the EU including the UK and the European Free Trade Association- EFTA countries) in January 2020 compared to the similar period of 2019, showed the data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) on Tuesday.

The data is valid for the 27 European Union member states, including the UK and the EFTA, namely Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

A number of 1.13 million vehicles were registered last month in Europe against 1.22 million units in January 2018.

According to the ACEA, the decrease of the European automotive market has been determined by major legislative changes announced by some of the EU states, global economic conditions and uncertainties caused by the UK leaving the EU.

In January, Romania's automotive market recorded a drop of 10.5 percent, with 12,489 vehicles registered against 13,952 vehicles in the similar period of 2019. Last month, Lithuania reported an increase of 35.1 percent.

The four large markets of the EU registered the following drops in January: minus 13.4 percent in France, minus 7.6 percent in Spain, minus 7.3 percent in Germany, minus 5.9 percent in Italy, the ACEA data showed.

The sales of new vehicles in Europe increased by 1.2 percent in 2019, with the most dynamic automotive market registered in Lithuania, where sales of new vehicles registered a boost of 43.2 percent at an annual rate, followed by the market in Romania, which reported a 23.4 percent rise.