- The European market (Passenger Car vehicles)  decrease in 2012  was mainly the consequence of markets collapse in South Europe: Spain (-13.4%), Italy (-19.8%), Portugal (-35.5%), Greece (-40.5%) and France (-13.9%).

A compensation phenomenon,  entirely foreseeable, consisting in anticipated purchases within the frame of a scrapping scheme, led to a surplus of cumulative sales in 2009-2010-2011 in France and 2009 in Germany. These cars were not purchased in following years.

- The European market has experienced a 8% fall in 2012 compared to 2011, down to a total of nearly 11,770,000 VP. This is the worst figure since twenty years and no real recovery in 2013 is foreseen. Since 2007, the market fell by 22%, despite the scrapping schemes introduced in several countries.

- Only Britain recorded a significant increase in sales in 2012 (5.7%), but still far from the figures recorded in 2007 (2.05 million in 2012 against VP 2.4 million PC in 2007).

Data source: File #52 - Monthly registrations in Europe by countries and by makes