#X A V I ♕ Posted October 24, 2018 Posted October 24, 2018 The European car market suffered the biggest monthly decline of the decade so far in September, with the impact of the new WLTP emissions testing regime contributing to a 23.4% decline in year-on-year sales. Across Europe 1.12 million vehicles were registered last month, according to data from industry analysts JATO, a 343,000 fall from September 2017. The sharp fall had been expected due to the ongoing problems of readying cars to meet the new and tougher WLTP tests, with JATO noting that only 57% of versions previously sold currently meet the new test conditions. New WLTP tests: what you need to know With registrations spiking in August as manufacturers cleared stock ahead of WLTP coming into force on September 1, overall European sales are still up 2.3% year-on-year. JATO analyst Felipe Munoz said research showed a direct link between the availability of WLTP-homologated models and registration figures. “We will continue to see registrations decline so long as a large portion of the market’s versions remain unavailable under the new test conditions,” he said. “The big question now is how long the drop will last, which will depend on how long it takes car makers to homologate the models they want to keep on the market.” The Volkswagen Group has particularly struggled with readying cars for WLTP, which contributed to the PSA Group – Peugeot, Citroën, DS and Vauxhall/Opel – becoming the best-selling car maker in Europe. That makes September the first month in nearly eight years that the VW Group has not topped European sales charts. Vauxhall/Opel had a particularly strong month: while it’s September year-on-year sales were down 12%, its 80,920 registrations were enough to make it the best-selling brand in Europe, narrowly ahead of Ford (80,813). By contrast, Volkswagen’s sales fell by 53% to 74,469, with a particularly sharp decline in Germany. Audi also struggled, with its sales falling by 60%. OUR VERDICT Vauxhall Corsa Vauxhall Corsa cornering All-new Vauxhall Corsa raises its game with the end result being a classy supermini that’s decent to drive, but still short of the benchmark set by the Ford Fiesta Find an Autocar car review Driven this week Ford Fiesta ST-Line 2018 long-term review hero front 24 OCTOBER 2018 FIRST DRIVE Ford Fiesta ST-Line long-term review Does this version of Britain’s top-selling car have the substance to match... Camouflaged Skoda Scala front 24 OCTOBER 2018 FIRST DRIVE Skoda Scala 2018 prototype review Can Skoda's new family hatchback seriously take on established players... Suzuki Swift Sport 2018 long-term review hero front 22 OCTOBER 2018 FIRST DRIVE Suzuki Swift Sport long-term review The Japanese hot hatch is all grown up in terms of character, technology and... The Volkswagen Golf, which has been Europe’s best-selling car every month since March 2017, particularly struggled, with registrations falling by 71% to 14,968. The Vauxhall Corsa became the new market leader, with 24,752 examples of the supermini registered – a rise of 5%. The Ford Fiesta also performed strongly, with registrations rising by 20% to 22,478, putting it second in the European sales charts.
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