BRUSSELS, March 8(Xinhuanet)-- New car prices are converging across the European Union(EU), including in new member states, according to a latest report on car prices released on Tuesday by the EU executive European Commission.

"While price differentials between certain countries, and particularly for certain models, are still significant, the gap isclosing," says the report.

In the 12-nation euro-zone, pre-tax prices are generally lowestin Finland and most expensive in Germany. Looking at the EU as a whole, cars are less expensive on average in the new member states,with Estonia being the cheapest market.

"I am confident that the new legal framework for car distribution and strict enforcement of EU competition rules will contribute to further price convergence by removing obstacles to parallel imports throughout the EU," said EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

Although the figures show that the situation is improving, morework needs to be done and rigorous enforcement action will continue,he added.

Price differences, based on 1 November 2004 figures, are smaller than those recorded in May 2004, with the average standarddeviation of prices between the 25 national markets falling from 6.9 percent to 6.4 percent.

But price differences for particular models between the cheapest and most expensive member states can still be substantial.The widest price difference is for the Opel Astra, one of the 10 top best selling cars in EU in 2004, which costs almost 50 percentmore in Germany than in Denmark.