New car sales in Europe drop

New car sales in Europe fell for the third month in a row in June owing to the end of government “cash-for-clunkers” schemes, industry figures showed on Thursday.

Registrations for new cars fell by 6.9 percent on a 12-month comparison to 1,341,092, said the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA).

In the first half of the year, a total of 7,285,487 new cars were registered in the European Union, a 0.2 increase from the same period in 2009 but a 10.3 percent drop from 2008.

In Germany, the leading market for cars in Europe, sales fell by 32.3 percent in June while France, the second market, recorded a 1.3 percent drop. They fell by 19.1 percent in Italy.

New car registrations rose by 25.6 percent in Spain and 10.8 percent in Britain.

The biggest fall was reproted in Slovakia, where sales dropped 40.6 percent, and the biggest rise was in Ireland, where they soared by 75.8 percent.

Source: AFP