According to the report from European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA). in March 2019, the European passenger car market contracted by 3.9%, falling from 1,792,880 units the year before to 1,722,442 last month. Demand decreased in all major EU markets. Italy posted the highest percentage drop (-9.6%), followed by Spain (-4.3%), the United Kingdom (-3.4%), France (-2.3%) and Germany (-0.5%).

Three months into the year, demand for new cars in the European Union declined by 3.3%, totalling 4,032,881 units. In Germany, registrations remained almost flat (+0.2%), while the other key markets performed worse than in the first quarter of 2018 − most notably Spain (-6.9%) and Italy (-6.5%).