New car prices in Britain remain the highest in Europe, according to the latest EU report comparing lists in different countries. It shows UK motorists pay up to 82 per cent more than their counterparts on the Continent.
The sharpest contrast is with Denmark where a Mazda 626 costing £11,740 here can be bought for £6,442. The reason is that Denmark and some other EU countries have much higher taxation on new cars than the UK, so manufacturers have to make the basic price as low as possible.
Even so, the AA has criticised manufacturers for "continuing to get away with it" after promising the Government they would cut prices.
The EU survey compared pre-tax prices of 81 best-selling cars produced by the world's top 25 manufacturers. It found that on May 1, the UK was themost expensive place to buy 52 of the 81 models.
EC legislators are expected to loosen some of the rules on new car sales which they hope will encourage more competition and lower prices.
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