2008 New Cars Ireland (4.5m) 98k Sweden (9.2m) 61k

[YesSireeeBob]

Sweden 1 new car for ever 150 people
Ireland 1 new car for every 48 people

If we had the same per capita car sales as Sweden we would have sold 30k cars in the first 3 months of 2008.

================================================================================
                      March      March   March          YTD          YTD     YTD
                       2009       2008    YOY%         2009         2008    YOY%
================================================================================
Total Europe      1,506,249  1,656,106   -9.0%    3,439,720    4,154,778  -17.2%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EU-25             1,474,996  1,622,122   -9.1%    3,361,375    4,054,438  -17.1%
Western Europe    1,429,445  1,553,116   -8.0%    3,226,011    3,855,439  -16.3%
  Eurozone        1,068,771  1,044,094    2.4%    2,626,158    3,004,962  -12.6%
   Austria           26,477     29,907  -11.5%       64,296       73,778  -12.9%
   Belgium           50,258     57,077  -11.9%      143,852      169,864  -15.3%
   Finland           10,724     12,577  -14.7%       29,462       46,140  -36.1%
   France           204,018    188,879    8.0%      505,456      526,121   -3.9%
   Germany          400,965    286,549   39.9%      868,090      735,914   18.0%
   Greece            13,373     22,396  -40.3%       49,212       79,244  -37.9%
================================================================================
                      March      March   March          YTD          YTD     YTD
                       2009       2008    YOY%         2009         2008    YOY%
================================================================================
   Ireland            7,811     21,590  -63.8%       32,646       93,045  -64.9%
   Italy            214,218    213,702    0.2%      538,720      666,178  -19.1%
   Luxembourg         4,768      5,355  -11.0%       12,090       13,489  -10.4%
   Netherlands       35,054     47,182  -25.7%      125,215      163,837  -23.6%
   Portugal          12,754     22,045  -42.1%       31,780       55,229  -42.5%
   Slovakia           6,488      5,490   18.2%       12,696       15,586  -18.5%
   Slovenia           5,360      6,643  -19.3%       14,648       18,799  -22.1%
   Spain             76,503    124,702  -38.7%      197,995      347,738  -43.1%
 EU-15            1,398,193  1,519,132   -8.0%    3,147,666    3,755,099  -16.2%
   Denmark            9,323     11,989  -22.2%       24,557       39,350  -37.6%
   Sweden            18,035     23,540  -23.4%       43,937       61,823  -28.9%
   United Kingdom   313,912    451,642  -30.5%      480,358      683,349  -29.7%
 EFTA                31,252     33,984   -8.0%       78,345      100,340  -21.9%
  Iceland                73        855  -91.5%          290        3,322  -91.3%
  Norway              7,601      9,506  -20.0%       19,241       29,974  -35.8%
  Switzerland        23,578     23,623   -0.2%       58,814       67,044  -12.3%
New EU Members       76,803    102,990  -25.4%      213,709      299,339  -28.6%
================================================================================
                      March      March   March          YTD          YTD     YTD
                       2009       2008    YOY%         2009         2008    YOY%
================================================================================
 Czech Republic      12,410     12,298    0.9%       31,075       33,026   -5.9%
 Estonia                826      2,562  -67.8%        2,582        7,221  -64.2%
 Hungary              9,294     13,967  -33.5%       26,372       39,791  -33.7%
 Latvia                 372      1,885  -80.3%        1,309        5,934  -77.9%
 Lithuania              629      2,092  -69.9%        1,899        6,376  -70.2%
 Poland              31,098     30,349    2.5%       87,939       86,788    1.3%
 Bulgaria             2,202      4,594  -52.1%        6,100       11,790  -48.3%
 Romania              8,124     23,110  -64.8%       29,089       74,028  -60.7%
================================================================================
NOTE: Eurozone figures are calculated by Bloomberg using individual country data.
Eurozone includes all countries sharing the Euro (Malta and Cyprus not available).
EU25 is EU27 excluding Malta and Cyprus.
EU15 includes Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Western Europe also includes 
Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. 
The new EU members are the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Registration numbers for Cyprus and Malta are not available.

[locke]

Those figures are for year to date to March. i.e. sales in the January-March period.

Because of our number plating system, our new car sales get concentrated into the first three months of the year.

[Factorem]

And most of them are bought on credit.

The reason there are so many 09 cars on the road is that all the 05ers and 06ers are renewing their hire purchase agreements simply because they cannot afford to pay the remaining balance (often 5 figure sums).

[YesSireeeBob]

Those figures are for year to date to March. i.e. sales in the January-March period.

Because of our number plating system, our new car sales get concentrated into the first three months of the year.

ooooppppsssss


my bad

[seabhcan]

public transport is a hell of a lot better in Sweden. Cars are a luxury there, here they are a necessity for many (not me, though. Thankfully)

[BodyofEvidence]

I work with someone who has worked in sweden and switzerland. Every second sentence is "well, in S-country, they do....". I feel like screaming "feck off back there so, why dont you"....

[SJL4277]

in the first 3 months of the year, nearly as many new cars have been bought in the Czech Republic, Finland and Portugal as here. Compare the figures for the 4 countries for 2008, kinda puts into context how much worse the recession is here than elsewhere