By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) – The EU passenger car market narrowed 2.9 percent year-on-year this January and February, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) reported on Friday.
“Some markets saw a strong drop compared to last year, most notably Spain (down 8.4 percent) and Italy (down 4.9 percent), ” the group said.
“But new passenger car registrations remained more or less stable in Germany (up 0.6 percent), France (up 0.5 percent), and the U.K. (down 0.6 percent). ”
According to ACEA data, new passenger car registrations in the entire 28-member bloc totaled nearly 2.38 million during the first two months of 2019.
With a 24.2 percent market share in the two-month period, the top manufacturer VW Group saw a 3.8 percent annual fall in sales.
The group — which owns the Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat and Porsche brands — sold nearly 560,000 passenger cars.
The PSA Group, including major brands Peugeot, Citroen, and Opel, and the Renault Group had market shares of 17.3 percent and 10.2 percent , respectively.
Last year, over 15 million new passenger cars were registered in the EU.
The EU is the main automotive export market for Turkey, where top international automakers — including Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes, Renault, and Toyota — are operating.
Turkey's auto exports to European countries totaled over $25 billion, making up 79.5 percent of Turkey's total automotive exports in 2018.
