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Recovering European car market

November 18, 2014

The car market is Europe has picked up once more following dismally low sales during the main debt crisis years. The ACEA industry group said the figures for October were gratifying, but the picture was heterogeneous.

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EU member states recorded 1.07 million new car registrations in October, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) reported Tuesday.

The figure marked a 6.5-percent increase compared to the level reached in the same month a year earlier and followed a 6.4-percent surge in September.

ACEA officials indicated the crisis years were finally over with EU registrations having picked up for the 14th month in a row.

Steady recovery

The biggest winner in October was Spain, which logged a staggering 26.1-percent jump year-on-year. Runners-up Britain and Italy booked a 14.2-percent increase and a 9.2-percent improvement respectively, ACEA said on its website.

New registrations in Germany picked up by only 3.2 percent while France was the only nation in the bloc recording a decline (-3.8 percent.)

Monitoring Traffic

All major German carmakers saw their sales increase in October. Munich-based premium auto maker BMW fared best, posting a 9.4-percent increase while Europe's largest carmaker, VW, saw its sales going up by 6.9 percent.

hg/nz (Reuters, dpa)