Car sales suffer seven months of falls

The number of new passenger cars registered decreased by 3.8% in July, which was the seventh consecutive month of decline. Since the beginning of the year, car sales fell by 12.2%.

Sales of private cars, one of the best thermometers to measure the confidence of citizens in the economy, continue to give bad news. In July 2019 they fell by 3.8%, a decrease that deepens the accumulated decline so far this year. With the figures for July, the sector adds seven consecutive months of falls

According to the latest figures published by Statistics Finland, a total of 14,776 new motor vehicles were in July, of which 10,383 were automobiles. First registrations decreased by 2.1% from the corresponding month of the previous year. Among them, the number of new passenger cars registered was 9,217, which was 3.8% down from the same month the year before.

Source: Statistics Finland.

This decline is not a punctual or a recent phenomenon, but a trend since the beginning of the year. In the January to July period a total of 117,126 vehicles were first registered. Compared to the year before, there was an decrease of 5.3%. The number of passenger cars first registered in the January to July period was 69,497, which is 12.2% down from the year before.

The most common passenger car makes first registered in the January to July period were Toyota, Skoda and Volkswagen.

These data are based on the Traffic Affairs Register of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) and they have been produced by Statistics Finland. The numbers are exclusive of the vehicles on the Åland Islands.