By Nathan Allen 
 

New car registrations in the European Union fell in December, marking the fourth consecutive month of decline, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association said Wednesday.

The association, known as ACEA, said EU car registrations--which closely track new vehicle sales--fell by 8.4% from a year earlier to 998,503 as demand contracted in all the bloc's major markets except Italy.

Still, European registrations rose by 0.1% to 15.2 million across the whole of 2018, despite the slowdown in the second half of the year.

"Although this increase is very modest, it still marks the fifth consecutive year of growth," ACEA said.

Central European countries and Spain were the main drivers of the annual growth, posting gains of 8% and 7%, respectively. Registrations in the U.K. fell 6.8% on year, ACEA said.

 

Write to Nathan Allen at nathan.allen@dowjones.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 16, 2019 02:14 ET (07:14 GMT)

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