Euro NCAP launches new muliti-lingual website.

4 June 2010

Safety information is provided for millions more.

Euro NCAP is reaching out to a wider range of consumers by launching its website www.euroncap.com for the first time in two new languages: Dutch and French. Euro NCAP intends to release further languages Catalan, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish and the Swedish in the following months. 

There are over 500 million consumers in the 27 European Member States. There are 20 official languages as well as 60 other indigenous and non-indigenous languages spoken over the European geographical area.

According to a recent Eurobarometer poll carried out in 29 countries, only 51% of Europeans speak English either as their mother tongue or as a foreign language and a further 44% of Europeans admit not knowing any other language than their own. Given that the website was only available in English, up until now a large part of the European population has had no acess to Euro NCAP’s safety information on their website.

Over the next couple of months, this is all set to change. Euro NCAP has released information for the first time on its website in Dutch and French, languages that will make access easier for some 90 million people in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland. These two new languages will be closely followed by Catalan, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish and Swedish.

This first round of languages has been chosen due to the large car markets and significant car buying public in these countries. Moreover Euro NCAP members have also supported the launch of languages directed at their own consumers.

Dr Michiel van Ratingen, Secretary General of Euro NCAP says "This is one more step in Euro NCAP’s long-term objective to provide information on the safety performance of today’s cars to every consumer in Europe. Information is power and this power will ensure consumers can protect themselves when they drive."