Car sales across the European Union will grow by at least 2.8% in 2017 according to Cap hpi.

ACEA data today showed a January sales rise of 10.2% for the EU.

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Dylan Setterfield, international forecast manager, said: "Over the year, we forecast that the five major EU markets, the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, will see an increase from 11.03m to 11.33m new car registrations. In 2016 these five markets represented just over 75% of the EU total number of registrations and all posted volume growth last year, with Spain and Italy gaining the most."

Setterfield said that, despite the overall growth across the EU, the forecast is based on new registrations in the UK dropping to 2.5m from 2.67m, Germany's growth remaining consistent with 2016's performance and France, Italy and Spain continuing to grow, but at a slower rate than last year.

Car manufacturers enjoyed the second highest registration volume in Europe in 2016 with SUVs achieving a record high.

New car registrations for 2016 totalled 15.14m units, a 6.5% increase on 2015's volumes with 2016's registration volumes the second highest since 2007 when total registrations exceeded 16m units.

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"With lots of uncertainty around the EU for 2017 including elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands and Great Britain's ongoing negotiations to leave the EU, overall growth of 2.8% year on year can be taken as a positive for the automotive industry."

Setterfield added: "With lots of uncertainty around the EU for 2017 including elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands and Great Britain's ongoing negotiations to leave the EU, overall growth of 2.8% year on year can be taken as a positive for the automotive industry."