Directive leads to a jump in car sales in August

The impressive 50.3 perent increase in vehicle registrations in August compared to a year earlier, as revealed by Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) figures released on Tuesday, is due to the new European Union directive on the method of measuring vehicle pollutant emissions coming into force on September 1, 2018, and not because Greece exited the bailout programs.

This distortion is also seen from the dive in registrations since the start of September by an estimated 40 percent year-on-year.