Cyprus car sales slump further in June

Registrations of motor vehicles dropped by 33.5% over the year earlier in June, from 24.4% in May.
Registrations for the first six months of 2012 fell by 26.9% to 14,613 vehicles in January – June 2012, from 20,003 in the first six months of 2011.
Registrations of private saloon cars fell by 23.3% to 10,806, from 14,066 in January-June 2011.
Among the saloon cars, 53.7% were new and 46.3% were used.
Other categories of vehicles dropped even further: goods conveyance vehicles by 42.4%, light goods vehicles by 41.6%, heavy goods vehicles by 56.1% and road tractors (units of trailers) by 12.0%.
Moped registrations fell by 48.5% and motor cycles fell by 18.3%.
Motor registrations have been falling for more than three and a half years.
Some pick up in second hand car sales could occur once Cyprus passes legislation to amend registration fees on second-hand cars, which currently ignores the age of the vehicle.
At the end of May the European Commission formally requested that the Republic of Cyprus remove discriminatory taxation on second hand cars.