Sales of new passenger cars in Europe rose 3.6% to 1,209,209 units last month, the manufacturers’ association ACEA said on Wednesday.
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“This year’s result, although positively influenced by one extra working day [compared with October 2005] across the whole region is a sign of recovery after four consecutive months of decline,” ACEA said.
Sales increased in all main European markets, except Italy where the market remained flat with just a +0.1% gain.
France grew by 8.4%, Spain by 5.8%, Germany by 1.4% and the UK by 0.9%. The majority of the remaining EU15 countries also saw growth, ranging from 13% in Belgium and 11.2% in the Netherlands to 4.6% in Greece and 0.6% in Portugal.
Finland (–1%), Ireland (–4.5%) and Sweden (–2.6%) were among the markets recording falls.
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By GlobalDataACEA noted that the European Union’s new member states posted a solid overall gain of 12.7% led by Lithuania (72.2%) Latvia (57.8%) and Poland (32.9%).
Nissan sales were up 16.1% last month, Fiat, boosted by its redesigned Punto, saw its sales rise 16.0% and Toyota recorded a 15.3% rise.
Among the other big auto groups, Volkswagen sales increased 1.0%, PSA Peugeot posted a 7.1% surge for its Peugeot (+13.3%)and Citroen (-0.2%) brands and Ford of Europe was up 4.5% overall as better sales of Ford (+4.5%) and Volvo (+9.5%) models offset a drop at Land Rover (-5.8% as the old Freelander small SUV was run out ahead of the redesigned model’s launch) and Jaguar (-9.9%).
General Motors Europe also posted mixed results. It reported a 5.4% increase overall as Opel/Vauxhall (+7.3% boosted by the redesigned Corsa launch) and Chevrolet (+5.7%) models rose but Saab (off 16.4%) and the mostly US-sourced and independently imported GM brands Hummer, Cadillac and Corvette were down a massive 29.3%.
Renault sales fell 2.0% overall as poor sales of its core Renault models (-2.8%) offset a 40.7% increase at Dacia.
DaimlerChrysler was down 8.2% as Mercedes sales dropped 7.4% and its small city Smart car brand volume fell 32.1% due to the Forfour runout after production ended last June. Only the Chrysler brand, boosted by new models like the US-made Caliber, were up, by 22.0%.
BMW, although heading for a record year for volume, posted a 3.9% fall. This was due largely to Mini sales falling 27.3% as existing stocks of the three-door hatchback Cooper models were run down ahead of the launch of redesigned models this weekend. BMW brand sales were up just 0.9% last month.
Germany was Europe’s biggest market last month as 293,832 new cars were sold, up 1.4% year on year. France saw a 8.4% rise, Spanish sales were up 5.8% and the UK was up just 0.9%.
In contrast sales in Iceland were off 27.3% to just 965 units.
ACEA’s data covers new car registrations in the 25 EU member states plus Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.
