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Euro car market expands
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February 15, 2000: 6:16 a.m. ET
Economic growth spurs 3.6% jump in January auto registrations, survey says
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LONDON (CNNfn) - New car registrations in Western Europe rose 3.6 percent in January from a year earlier as economic growth spurred higher demand for new cars in about half of the 18 nations surveyed, according to a report from a leading industry group.
New passenger car registrations reached 1.3 million in January 2000, up from 1.26 million units in the year-earlier period, driven by especially robust performances in France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Finland, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, or ACEA, reported Tuesday.
The figures show a quickening of growth in the car market from late 1999, when registrations increased 0.3 percent in both November and December, after a slight dip in October.
Volkswagen, Europe's biggest automaker, showed a 9.3 percent slump in new car registrations in Western Europe to 220,700. The company's market share fell to 17.0 percent from 19.4 percent in January 1999, the ACEA reported.
Fiat posted the best growth rate among the region's car makers, its registrations climbing 28.1 percent to 162,799 in January and market share rising to 12.5 percent from 10.1 percent.
Tuesday's survey embraced a Western European region spanning the 15-nation European Union plus non-EU members Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
Among countries surveyed, Ireland showed the steepest year-to-year growth, with registrations rocketing 56 percent to 41,992 units, followed by Italy with an 18.4 percent jump to 267,200, and Portugal, up 17.9 percent to 24,176. France, Europe's second-largest economy, saw an 8.3 percent rise. British registrations inched up 1.8 percent in January, to 185,040.
By contrast, Germany, the economic powerhouse of the euro-currency zone, saw a 14 percent decline to 235,000 registrations, a drop that the ACEA attributed to "the fact that the levels reached in January 2000 are compared to particularly high levels of 1999." Other countries showing declines in car registrations in January were Austria, Greece, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
In Denmark in new passenger car registrations plummeted 18 percent. "This is due in part to an increase in taxes for passenger cars as of Jan. 1 2000 and in part from the economic environment where the demand by consumers is cooling off, " said ACEA.
ACEA is a trade body representing thirteen European car, bus and truck manufacturers, including DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Co. Europe, General Motors Europe, Fiat, BMW, Renault, Scania, Volvo, Peugeot and Volkswagen. 
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