FRANKFURT (MNI) – New passenger car registrations in the Eurozone,
excluding Cyprus and Malta, fell for the sixth straight month in
September on an annual basis, data from the sector group ACEA showed
Friday.

The 12.4% annual drop in September followed August’s 15.7% drop.
Western European (EU 15) registrations were down 10.5% on the year,
after August’s -14.1%.

Among large Eurozone countries, German registrations were down
17.8% on the year in September. Italian registrations fell 18.9% in
September and French registrations also dipped 8.2%. In Spain,
registrations were 27.3% lower on the year.

The annual drops reflect the end of car scrapping premia across
Europe, which were used last year and early this year to spark domestic
demand and reignite the industry.

Now, however, as these programs have run out of gas, purchase and
registration volumes have fallen accordingly.

But Germany will likely be the market to see a turnaround first.
This is not only because its scrapping premium ended earlier,
effectively running out of cash last September — which means that its
negative base effect is pretty much finished — but also because its
economic and labor market situation outshine its Eurozone counterparts
by far.

“Optimism with regard to personal income and the [moderate] price
climate in Germany are boosting what is already an encouraging level of
buying propensity,” the research institute GfK said in its
forward-looking indicator late last month.

“Domestic demand has started to pick up, both private consumption
spending and business investments are increasing perceptibly,” Germany’s
six leading institutes wrote in their semi-annual economic assessment
released Thursday.

Other sentiment indicators also put the German consumer climate for
durable goods in a positive light. The indicator measuring the
propensity of consumers to make major purchases over the next twelve
months increased marginally in September in Germany. By contrast, the
indicator fell or remained unchanged in France, Italy and Spain.

— Frankfurt bureau: +49-69-720 142; email: frankfurt@marketnews.com —

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