FRANKFURT — New-car registrations in western Europe rose 5 percent to 1.13 million units in September, pointing to a modest rebound for auto sales in the region, market forecaster LMC Automotive said.
“After recent months where the seasonally adjusted annualized rate [SAAR] of sales has been easing back, September was much stronger, picking up to 11.8 million units/year — the best performance so far this year,” the forecaster said in a statement.
LMC said the rise reflected the improving business and consumer sentiment in the region. It added that the end of the recession in the euro zone in the second quarter was key to growth in the market, but warned that weak consumer spending and unemployment still plagued some countries.
New-car sales rose in all but two of the major regional markets last month.
In Spain, sales rose 29 percent helped by a new scrappage incentive scheme and the introduction of a VAT increase the year before. In the UK registrations were up 12 percent, driven by a 17 percent increase in private sales, while in France deliveries rose 3 percent.
In Germany, the region’s biggest market, sales fell 1 percent and in Italy, deliveries were down 3 percent.
LMC predicted western Europe’s full-year sales will drop 3 percent this year to 11.44 million, the sixth continual year of decline.
In 2014, deliveries will rise 1 percent to 11.56 million, the forecaster said.
Source: autonews.com
