The European new car market has grown by 1.7% to 8,447,559 units in the first half of 2006.

However, sales in the UK fell by 4.2% over same period.

The largest market in the region in the first half was Germany, with total new car registrations of 1,735,896 units. The fastest-growing new car market was Latvia, where sales were up by 55% compared with the same period in 2005.

Diesel models' share of new car sales in Western and Eastern Europe in the first half of the year was 49.6%. This was an increase of 1.2% compared with the same period in 2005.