europe's number of motor vehicles in use is among the largest in the world. in 2006, the total number of motor vehicles was 263m units of which passenger cars were largest group with 230m units. with an annual new registration of 18.7m units in total and 15.9m units of passenger cars the estimated annual volume of de-registrations is in the size of 13m to 14m units. however, official statistics only account for approximately 7m units as the official number of scrapped vehicles. the difference in number is usually traded as a commodity product i.e. as a used car to market such as east europe and africa.