By Henrietta Billings - 9th March 2005
Car prices across the EU are converging, according to a new European Commission survey.
A report published on Tuesday shows that Germany tops the league of most expensive EU countries to buy a car, and Estonia is the cheapest, but the overall difference in prices is narrowing.
Price variations based on November 2004 figures were smaller than those recorded in May 2004, with the average standard deviation of prices falling from 6.9 per cent to 6.4 per cent.
"Price convergence for cars continues to improve in the EU as a whole, while the integration of the new member states is progressing," said EU competition chief Neelie Kroes.
According to the report the widest price difference is for the Opel Astra, one of the top 10 best selling cars in the EU last year. It costs almost 50 per cent more in Germany than in Denmark.
In Germany 38 models out of 91 in the report are sold to consumers at the highest prices in the eurozone.
And 21 of those are 20 per cent more expensive than the cheapest national market in the eurozone.
Outside the eurozone, Estonia has ousted Poland as the cheapest market in the EU with prices 2.5 per cent below Greece.
Compared with 2003, car prices in 2004 increased by 0.5 per cent across the EU, despite 2.4 per cent inflation. Car prices decreased in Germany, the UK and Czech Republic, while they increased in France and Italy.
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