Europe car sales up

Corporate buyers and demand for mass-market car brands helped new car registrations in Europe increase 6.9% in April.

Among the top gainers was Renault. Sales of its mainstream brand rose 15.6%, while registrations of its discount brand Dacia rose 14.7%.

New registrations in the EU jumped to 1,209,551 passenger cars, data from the Association of European Carmakers (ACEA) showed.

IHS Automotive expects car registrations in the EU will now grow by more than 4% year-on-year to almost 13.1 million cars, still way behind 2007 levels. Demand for Skoda rose 9.5%. Sales of Fiat cars and those of Opel and its sister brand Vauxhall rose 9.7% and 5.7% respectively.

Europe’s best selling car brand remains Volkswagen, which recorded a 5.6% rise in registrations to 154,311 passenger cars last month.

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