Car sales in Western Europe fell by 1% year-on-year (YoY) in October, with one fewer selling day, according to data released by LMC Automotive.

LMC said the annualised sales rate for the region dipped to a disappointing 13.4m units a year.

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Car sales were down 5.6% in Germany, while the French car market was down 4%.

The Spanish car market cooled in October, growing by just 4% on last year, contrasting with double-digit growth rates earlier in the year. Spain’s car market is now adjusting to the end of the PIVE scrappage scheme.

However, car sales in Italy maintained strong growth, with a 9.7% gain.

LMC said the UK car market has, so far, not shown any major after-effects from the June Brexit vote with new registrations up 1.4% in October.

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So far this year, the West European car market is up by 6.3% and LMC says it remains on course to finish the year at 13.9m units, a solid improvement over the 13.2m units for 2015. LMC forecasts further growth in 2018, albeit at a slower pace headwinds in the form of higher car prices and slowing economic growth hitting the UK.

Sales (units) Selling rate (units/year)
OCT 2016 OCT 2015 Percent change Year-to-date 2016 Year-to-date 2015 Percent change OCT 2016 Year-to-date 2016 Year 2015 Percentchange
WESTERN EUROPE 1,046,298 1,056,536 -1.0% 11,782,016 11,085,966 6.30% 13,398,262 13,875,944 13,185,678 5.20%
AUSTRIA 26,344 25,149 4.80% 279,180 262,342 6.40% 328,257 325,392 308,555 5.50%
BELGIUM 41,969 39,474 6.30% 466,352 431,996 8.00% 534,757 538,645 501,066 7.50%
DENMARK 17,058 16,873 1.10% 185,511 171,757 8.00% 205,385 220,271 207,354 6.20%
FINLAND 9,162 9,167 -0.1% 101,776 91,897 10.80% 113,816 119,227 108,811 9.60%
FRANCE 155,201 161,737 -4.0% 1,656,065 1,583,172 4.60% 1,834,704 1,982,800 1,917,295 3.40%
GERMANY 262,724 278,372 -5.6% 2,818,750 2,686,310 4.90% 3,142,246 3,368,721 3,206,042 5.10%
GREECE 5,179 4,946 4.70% 68,395 63,130 8.30% 68,871 79,296 75,805 4.60%
IRELAND 2,243 2,559 -12.3% 145,785 123,656 17.90% 127,718 138,743 124,944 11.00%
ITALY 146,632 133,610 9.70% 1,552,056 1,330,883 16.60% 1,783,943 1,816,665 1,574,651 15.40%
LUXEMBOURG 4,077 4,398 -7.3% 43,460 40,425 7.50% 49,154 50,484 46,473 8.60%
NETHERLANDS 30,189 38,819 -22.2% 316,088 339,804 -7.0% 399,663 384,208 448,927 -14.4%
NORWAY 11,932 13,197 -9.6% 127,807 125,008 2.20% 140,693 153,679 150,686 2.00%
PORTUGAL 14,936 13,714 8.90% 173,780 152,008 14.30% 200,195 206,031 178,485 15.40%
SPAIN 83,248 80,058 4.00% 957,533 863,983 10.80% 1,149,178 1,138,506 1,034,245 10.10%
SWEDEN 31,840 31,563 0.90% 303,236 280,216 8.20% 373,833 371,387 345,053 7.60%
SWITZERLAND 23,396 25,236 -7.3% 255,579 264,829 -3.5% 284,308 314,484 323,783 -2.9%
UK 180,168 177,664 1.40% 2,330,663 2,274,550 2.50% 2,661,543 2,667,402 2,633,503 1.30%

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