A report published by the European Commission has shown that the price difference for purchasing new cars in different states of the European Union is narrowing. The average difference between the most expensive country and the least expensive is now 8.5%, down from 9.8% at the beginning of 2009. There has been a degree of stabilisation of prices in traditionally expensive countries such as Sweden and the UK. However, government measures in many countries aimed at encouraging the purchase of smaller cars for environmental reasons, along with scrappage schemes, have allowed manufacturers to maintain somewhat higher pricing levels, and this has meant that the price difference has actually increased slightly across member states within the Euro-zone. The country with the lowest average prices before tax is now Malta, while Germany leads France and Luxembourg at the head of the most expensive countries list.

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