Based on the results of last month, the total number of sold cars reached 1,078,503 units, which is almost the same as the level recorded in February 2008, that is, before the crisis.
The main growth was provided by the second-tier markets, where sales jumped by almost 16 percent. At the same time, in most key EU markets there was a decline in consumer demand: in France - by 2.9%, in Germany - by 2.6%, and in the UK - by 0.3%. The exceptions were only Italy and Spain, where demand for new passenger cars grew by 6.2 and 0.2 percent, respectively.
The undisputed leader among the EU car markets remains Germany - in February of this year, 243,602 passenger cars were sold there.
Italy holds the second position: residents of this country bought 183,777 cars in February.
France closes the top three with 161,874 sold cars.
Among European manufacturers, the first place traditionally belongs to VW Group, which sold 247,872 cars on the European market, which is 1 percent less compared to the same period last year.
The second result in terms of sales volume is demonstrated by PSA Group - 115,710 units, and here there is also a decrease of 3.1% compared to last February.
But Renault Group, which is in third place, managed to increase sales by almost 7 percent. In total, buyers purchased 112,481 cars of this group.
In the first two months of 2017, 2,248,040 new passenger cars were registered in the European Union, which is 6.2% higher than the same period last year. All major European markets contributed to the overall growth: Italy added 8.1%, Spain - 4.8%, Germany - 3.5%, France - 3.2%. In the UK, which is preparing to leave the EU, the growth in demand for new cars was more modest - only 1.8 percent.
