New European car sales fell for the first time in 10 months in April as scrapping schemes that had been bolstering sales began to fade, and the economic situation remained difficult, industry association ACEA said.
Governments in many major European car markets launched scrapping incentive schemes to help crisis-hit carmakers in the early part of last year, giving a boost to sales, but schemes have either finished or are being phased out.
The European car market fell 7.4 per cent in April, with 1,134,701 new cars registered in European member states last month.
"In the first months of the present year ... government support has ended or begun to fade out and the economic situation remains difficult," ACEA said in a statement.
Germany, whose scheme ended in September, posted the largest year-on-year decline in registrations, with a 31.7 per cent drop.
France, whose scrapping scheme is still in place, albeit at a reduced level, saw a 1.9 per cent increase in registrations.
In the first four months of the year, European registrations were up 4.8 per cent year-on-year, but down 11.6 per cent compared with the first four months of 2008, before the crisis hit.
ACEA's data showed that Japan's Nissan Motor Co Ltd saw a 38.3 per cent gain in registrations in April compared with the same month last year. Other gainers were Kia, whose registrations rose 8.9 per cent, BMW up 13.1 percent and Renault, up 8.7 per cent.
Volkswagen group, Europe's biggest carmaker, saw its registrations slide 7.7 per cent year-on-year in April, while Fiat group sales were down 27.3 per cent, GM group sales fell 19.1 per cent and Toyota was down 20.7 per cent last month.
Reuters