European car market continues signs of recovery

Europe’s car-market recovery continued in March, with solid gains in the five biggest markets: Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Spain, as consumer confidence improved on the back of greater job security, lower energy prices and the EU’s money-printing stimulus programme.

Registrations rose 10.8%, to 1.65m cars, across the region, the Brussels-based Association of European Carmakers said, taking the first-quarter expansion to 8.5%. Renault’s sales jumped 11.6%, while the French carmaker’s low-cost Dacia posted a lesser gain of 7.5%. A 6.4% sales increase at Volkswagen’s Skoda division was outshone by the core brand’s surge of 11.5%. Even Fiat Chrysler’s downtrodden Fiat line-up had 13.7% growth. Ford gained 8.9% in March and 7.4% for the quarter, after years of European pain, while US rival, General Motors, recorded a more modest 4.3% gain for its European marques, Opel and Vauxhall.