European car sales up by almost 3%

New car sales in Western Europe were up by 2.9% last month.

However, registrations fell 5.3% in Germany, Europe’s biggest car market, the Association of European Auto Manufacturers (ACEA) said today.

Britain recorded a 15.8% rise, Spain was up 9.7% and France rose by 2.1%.

The British figures were boosted because there were three extra working days in June this year.

Nevertheless, “this positive result seems to indicate that the market is starting to recover after a first half marked by economic and political uncertainties,” the ACEA said.

Sales across Western Europe were 1.3 million, easily beating the 2.4% rise analysts had predicted.

German sales had risen in May on the back of the withdrawal of a planned tax on company cars, but today’s figure showed the euphoria was short-lived.

Volkswagen's overall decline was 1.7% and Mercedes sales were 4.1% down .

The battle of the brands continued meanwhile in France, and Renault had the upper hand. Its sales rose almost 13% in June, while rival Peugeot slid 2.7%.

Luxury cars had a bad month. Jaguar sales fell 11.5% and Lancia by 14.4%. Japanese car makers continued to snatch away market share, with Mazda sales up 23.6%.

The ACEA figures cover new car registrations in the EU, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.