European New Car Registrations down by 1 4 Percent in August this Year (2006)

Released on = October 23, 2006, 4:34 am

Press Release Author = RNCOS

Industry = Automotive

Press Release Summary = Compared to the same period last year, new car registrations
went down by 1.4 percent in August this year. Common uncertainty about the economic
conditions, growing interest rates in some countries and rising fuel prices had been
some of the reasons behind this decline.

Press Release Body = In Europe, number of registrations for new passenger cars
amounted to 886,824 units in August 2006, representing a decline of 1.4 percent on
August 2005. While, total registrations in the month of July 2006 were 1,220,753
units, a decline of 4.5 percent compared to July 2005. The cumulative positive
result (+0.4%) for the initial eight months indicates that demand for new car is
still on a positive trend in Europe.

Four out of five main markets comprising Italy, Spain, UK and Germany, posted a
decline in numbers. All these markets observed decrease in sales, for example
Germany had a -2.7% , France –5%, UK –4.1%, Italy -11.1% and Spain
recorded a –5.1% growth in the month of July 2006. However, compared to the
numbers in July 2005, the results demonstrated a \'clear sign\' of a recovery.

RNCOS has recently published a report “Passenger Car Market: A Global Review
(2006)”. According to this report, “Passenger car segment is accountable
for a substantial portion of world automotive production. Passenger car production,
globally, expanded by 3.3 percent in 2005. Market share for German branded cars is
still extremely high, however, imported brands made up for 35.2 percent in 2005. UK
automotive accounts for 11 percent of EU automotive production. The automotive
industry makes up for about 4.5 percent of gross value added and employs nearly 1.5
Million people, either dir