2018.01.1702:28:00UTC+00Europe's New Car Registrations Fall In December

Europe's new passenger car registrations declined at the end of the year, data published by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association showed Wednesday.

Passenger car sales declined 4.9 percent year-over-year to 1,088,498 units in December, mainly the result of the fact that December had one working day less in 2017 than in the preceding year.

Among five big markets, sales in the United Kingdom posted the biggest contraction, with registrations falling by 14.4 percent in December.

Sales in Germany dropped 1.0 percent and those of in Italy by 3.2 percent. French market logged a moderate fall of 0.5 percent.

At the same time, registrations in Spain grew notably by 6.2 percent.

Overall in 2017, European demand for cars grew 3.4 percent, reaching more than 15 million new passenger cars registered for the first time since 2007. Moreover, it was fourth successive yearly rise in sales.