Demand for mid-market brands and luxury cars pushed growth of new car sales in Europe to the highest monthly rate in five and a half years in June, industry data showed today.
The industry also did benefit from extra selling days in some key markets.
Volkswagen's core division, Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler's Fiat brand posted double-digit gains as the region's car-market recovery is strengthening.
There was a similar story from luxury nameplates including Porsche, BMW and Toyota's Lexus.
New registrations in the European Union (EU) and EFTA countries rose 14.8% year-over-year to 1.41 million cars, the Brussels-based Association of European Carmakers (ACEA) said.
The 14.6% gain in the 28-nation EU, excluding Malta, was the biggest monthly increase since December 2009, ACEA said.
"We expect the industry's strong performance to continue throughout the second half of the year," Ford's European sales chief Roelant de Waard told Reuters this week. "Underlying demand is quite stable."
Ford recorded an increase of 16% in June and 6.7% for the first half, a boon after years of European pain for the US carmaker.
Among the top premium gainers last month was Porsche with a 27% increase in sales while the VW brand's 18% gain stood out among volume makes.
Double-digit gains in the region's 10 largest markets took the first-half expansion in the EU plus EFTA bloc to 8.2% or 7.41 million cars, ACEA said, bolstering expectations as publication of carmakers' second-quarter results is drawing near.
Solid growth in Europe is earning carmakers a respite as China, the world's largest car market and for years a source of stable revenues for global players VW, General Motors and BMW, is slowing.
