Germany continued to buck to the downward trend in major European markets with new-car sales rising 8.1 percent to 280,689 in September. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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In the first nine months, sales increased 10.8 percent to 2.4 million compared with the same period the year before, the KBA federal registrations agency said on Wednesday.
Germany’s buoyant economy is helping to boost new-car sales, but in other key European markets the picture is not so rosy.
Car sales in Spain fell 1.3 percent to 55,572 last month, industry association ANFAC said on Monday, the lowest September total in 15 years. ANFAC blamed a VAT sales tax hike combined with the withdrawal of government subsidies for the decline.
In the first nine months, Spain saw a 20.7 percent dip in sales compared with the 2010 period.
In France, car sales fell 1.4 percent to 197,784, industry association CCFA said, also on Monday, as the market held up in an unfavorable economic situation, particularly given a scrappage scheme was still boosting sales in September 2010.
For the first nine months, registrations in France were still in positive territory, up 0.2 percent.
The CCFA said the French market is slowly going down, but it is resilient. The CCFA now expects a better outcome than its forecast for an 8-10 percent fall for the full year.
Analysts said aggressive promotions by carmakers had helped support sales but the fear of another economic downturn is likely to add uncertainty over the coming months.
