The UK was the only market from the big five in Europe to see a decline in new car registrations over the first half of this year.

Figures from JATO Dynamics show the overall European new car market increased by 1.9% to 1.5 million units in H1. However, the UK saw a 1.3% decline, compared with increases of 8% in Italy, 7.1% in Spain, 3.1% in Germany and 2.6% in France.

Felipe Munoz, global automotive analyst at JATO Dynamics, said: “Overall,  the  market  is  looking healthy in Europe, with the strongest H1 performance since 2007.

“In particular, the Central and Eastern European markets have grown strongly this  year and with some of them recording record levels of employment this trend looks set to continue.

"However, it’s notable that the UK is experiencing a slowdown in registrations which can be attributed to uncertainty about the nature of the country’s exit from the EU.

"Until  there  is  clarity  over  how  Brexit will work and what the UK’s relationship with the EU will look like, the UK  market may continue to decline, while the rest of Europe continues to grow.”

VW Group’s market  share decreased – it fell from 23.7% in H1 2016 to 23.3% in H1  2017.  This  was  the second highest fall in market share, only PSA experienced a larger decline with its market share declining by 0.6 percentage points of share

The market continued to be driven by SUVs like the VW Tiguan and Peugeot  3008.  In  the  compact  segment, the VW Golf leads, but its volume for  H1 2017 fell  by  11.6%, while the  Renault Megane experienced growth of 32.7%.

	H1-17	H1-16	Var.	Jun-17	Jun-16	Var.
			H1			Jun
			16-17			16-17
Austria	186,561	171,770	8.60%	35,441	33,751	5.00%
Belgium	322,301	309,605	4.10%	55,118	55,272	-0.30%
Croatia	31,982	25,728	24.30%	6,797	6,142	10.70%
Czech Rep.	144,452	132,780	8.80%	26,634	25,714	3.60%
Denmark	123,945	116,921	6.00%	23,989	23,645	1.50%
Estonia	13,707	12,080	13.50%	2,728	2,022	34.90%
Finland	64,407	65,415	-1.50%	10,862	10,750	1.00%
France	1,130,578	1,102,147	2.60%	229,757	227,273	1.10%
Germany	1,787,026	1,733,839	3.10%	327,693	339,563	-3.50%
Greece	50,309	47,367	6.20%	10,135	8,847	14.60%
Hungary	54,810	46,056	19.00%	10,820	9,714	11.40%
Ireland	91,190	101,329	-10.00%	1,397	1,624	-14.00%
Italy	1,136,395	1,052,411	8.00%	188,037	167,195	12.50%
Latvia	8,618	8,698	-0.90%	1,591	1,937	-17.90%
Lithuania	12,794	10,688	19.70%	2,672	1,899	40.70%
Luxembourg*	28,078	28,315	-0.80%	4,338	5,106	-15.00%
Netherlands	226,431	194,808	16.20%	41,167	39,431	4.40%
Norway	79,332	78,998	0.40%	14,634	14,047	4.20%
Poland	248,020	210,711	17.70%	41,881	38,555	8.60%
Portugal	127,186	118,626	7.20%	24,834	23,369	6.30%
Romania	45,008	35,452	27.00%	8,030	5,462	47.00%
Slovakia	48,588	43,771	11.00%	9,543	8,302	14.90%
Slovenia	39,032	34,980	11.60%	7,555	6,492	16.40%
Spain	673,535	628,957	7.10%	133,371	125,181	6.50%
Sweden	193,530	187,591	3.20%	38,324	36,307	5.60%
Switzerland	157,569	157,388	0.10%	31,509	31,093	1.30%
UK	1,401,811	1,420,636	-1.30%	243,454	255,766	-4.80%