Data issued by ACEA shows that the EU car market rose by 8% year-on-year in February, the sixth consecutive monthly increase.
However, ACEA also noted that in absolute figures, the total of 861,058 units registered marked the second lowest result to date for a month of February since ACEA began the series in 2003 with the enlarged EU.
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From January to February, new passenger car registrations increased by 6.6%, totalling 1,796,787 units.
In February 2014, France was the only major market to face a downturn (-1.4%). All other significant markets contributed positively to the overall 8.0% expansion of the EU market, with growth ranging from +3.0% in the UK, +4.3% in Germany, +8.6% in Italy to +17.8% in Spain.
Carlos Da Silva, IHS analyst, said that the result was no surprise. “This confirms that the long awaited revival of the European market is on track,” he said.
But he also warned that current sales levels are at historical lows.
“European sales need to strengthen further,” he said. “So that all the players reap the fruits of the recovery. So far sales have effectively been growing but discounting practices have been following a very similar path, it seems… This would tend to indicate that the overall situation remains more tense than it might appear.”
Volkswagen last week noted the fiercely competitive conditions that persist in Europe and are acting as a drag on profitability.
LMC Automotive forecasts that the West European car market will grow by 3% in 2014 to 11.9m units, still well under 14m+ pre-crisis ‘norms’.
See also: UK: Car sales in Western Europe up 5.1% in February
