EU automotive growth

Automotive production in Europe expanded by 5.1 per cent on last year according to the ACEA autumn Economic Report.

Of the 50 million cars produced globally, one third are manufactured in the EU. This makes Europe the world’s largest vehicle producer, providing jobs to 2.3 million people and indirectly to another 10 million.

In the first nine months of 2007 production in the automotive industry reached nearly 14.6 million vehicles. New EU member states accounted for 15 per cent of production over the same period. Passenger vehicles accounted for 87 per cent of the total, a rise of five percent on 2006. The truck sector saw growth of 13.8 per cent thanks to a rise in demand in European markets. The production of light commercial vehicles saw a rise of 3.9 per cent but production of new buses declined by 25 per cent.

Automobile demand improved by 1.5 per cent with 14.3 million new vehicles registered between January and September 2007. The only decrease was seen in registration of new buses and coaches, down by 8.4 per cent over nine months.