Statistical quirk lifts April car market in Europe

By Christiaan Hetzner

FRANKFURT, May 16 (Reuters) - Europeans continued to show only tepid interest in new cars as Italians, the continent's second-biggest car buyers, stayed away from showrooms amid a weakening economic outlook and a halt in government incentives.

April new car registrations jumped 9.6 percent to 1.42 million vehicles, according to data released by European industry association ACEA, but the gain was merely statistical with Easter falling a month earlier than a year ago.

The increase made up for a 9.5 percent drop in March and means new car registrations rose 1 percent in the first four months of this year -- almost entirely thanks to growth in the new EU markets in Eastern Europe.

"In April, most European countries benefited from two to three additional working days, which helped the majority of markets post a growth in new car registrations despite the U.S. financial crisis and further increases in fuel prices," automotive lobbying group ACEA said in a statement.

Smoothing out the April blip by looking at the year-to-date figures, Italy recorded an 8.2 percent drop in new car registrations to 867,000 vehicles while Spain -- the smallest of the big five European markets -- notched up an 11.5 percent fall to 471,000.

German automotive industry association VDA said late on Thursday that this was the fourth month in a row that registrations of new cars fell in Italy.

"The declining effect of the state-sponsored scrappage premiums combined with a stagnating economy and a considerable plunge in consumer confidence are responsible for the worsening market development," it said in a statement.

Once just a low-cost manufacturing site for automakers, Eastern Europe is becoming an increasingly important source of demand as mature markets stagnate.