EU passenger car market shrinks 3.3% in Q1

By Gokhan Ergocun</p> <p>ISTANBUL (AA) – The EU passenger car market narrowed 3.3% year-on-year in the first quarter, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) reported on Wednesday.</p> <p>&quot;In Germany, registrations remained almost flat (0.2%), while the other key markets performed worse than in the first quarter of 2018 − most notably Spain (negative 6.9%) and Italy (negative 6.5%),&quot; the group said.</p> <p>According to the ACEA data, new passenger car registrations in the entire 28-member bloc totaled 4.03 million during the first three months of 2019. </p> <p>The top manufacturer VW Group, with a 23.8% market share in the three-month period, posted a 2.7% annual drop in sales. </p> <p>The group — owner of the Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat and Porsche brands — sold over 959,000 passenger cars.</p> <p>The PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, DS and Opel) and the Renault Group (Renault, Dacia, Lada and Alpine) had market shares of 15.9% and 9.8%, respectively.</p> <p>In 2018, over 15 million new passenger cars were registered in the EU.</p> <p>The EU is the main automotive export market for Turkey where top international automakers — including Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes, Renault, and Toyota — are operating.</p> <p>Turkey's auto exports to European countries totaled over $25 billion, making up 79.5 percent of Turkey's total automotive exports in 2018.