New car sales ramp up across European Union in February
EUROPEAN car sales rose for the sixth month in a row in February, showing signs of recovery after a prolonged slump in the market that has persisted since the start of the recession.
Motorists registered eight per cent more cars than they did a year ago, taking 861,058 cars out of European Union showrooms. However, this was still the second-worst February since the European Automobile Manufacturers Association started compiling figures for the expanded EU in 2003.
France was the only major market to post a fall in new car sales, down 1.4 per cent on a year ago, while German drivers bought 4.3 per cent more cars, Italians bought 8.6 per cent more, and Spanish sales rose 17.8 per cent.
Sales across the continent fell two per cent in 2013, but have been rising consistently since September.