The latest figures issued by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) show that in 2013 new car registrations totaled 11,850,905 units in the European Union (EU), with a decrease of 1.7 percent from 2012. In December last year, EU new car registrations increased by 13.3 percent year on year to 906,294 units, but were down by 3.38 percent compared to November.

In December, most EU markets posted year-on-year growth, with the UK up 23.8 percent, Spain up 18.2 percent, with France indicating an increase of 9.4 percent, with Germany up 5.4 percent, and with Italy seeing 1.4 percent growth.

In 2013, the UK (+10.8 percent) and Spain (+3.3 percent) were the only two major markets to record increases compared to 2012. Decreases were witnessed in the other major markets, ranging from -7.1 percent in Italy to -5.7 percent in France and -4.2 percent in Germany.