In 27 European Union members states (figures for Malta were not available) a total of 1.1 million new passenger cars were registered last month, up 1.3% on the year, ACEA figures show.
This is the lowest growth rate since September 2013 when the upturn in the market began. In April sales had grown by 6.7%.
Looking at the major markets Spain and Italy once again recorded double-digit figures in growth in May, 14.0% and 10.8% respectively. The growth rate in in Britain was significantly lower at 2.4%.
The greatest downturn was evident on the largest European markets, Germany, where 6.7% fewer cars were sold on the year and in France sales contracted by 3.5%.
Demand for new passenger cars was largely supported by the EU’s newer member states (EU12), especially Poland (+11.0%) and the Czech Republic (+17.6%), ACEA reports.
According to ACEA, there were 4,911 new passenger cars registered in Croatia in May which is 1.7% more on the year, which means that the market in Croatia has stabilised after the 19.3% plunge in car sales in April.
Five months into the year 5.8 million new cars were sold in 27 EU member states (without Malta) up 6.8% y-on-y.
Croatia's figures show that there were 16,682 new passenger cars registered in the first five months of the year, indicating a stagnation in car sales on the year.