European car sales rose 6.3% to 1,093,565 vehicles in January, industry data showed today.
The increase came despite sales of Europe's largest carmaker Volkswagen falling by 4% in the wake of a diesel emissions scandal.
VW's rivals Ford and General Motors's Opel/Vauxhall posted rises in sales of 11.4% and 12.4% respectively, according to car registration data for European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries.
The Volkswagen group as a whole saw sales rise 1% in January, buoyed by a 14% jump in registrations for its premium Audi division, according to the figures published by European auto industry association ACEA.
In the European Union, registrations rose to 1,061,150 last month, a 6.2% rise on a year ago and marking the 29th consecutive month of growth, ACEA said.
"When adjusted for working days, January registrations were up 11.6%, year-on-year the second-strongest increase for any month in the past five years," analysts at Barclays said.
They noted that January's sales should not be taken as a projection for the full year.
Barclays said they expect sales to grow 3.3% in Western Europe this year, slowing from last year's 8.9%, but remaining above the growth rates of other markets like the US.
Registrations in Italy and Spain rose 17.4% and 12.1%, while the bigger markets of France, Germany and the UK posted modest single-digit gains.
"We think the European market will remain buoyant given the continued improvement in employment and household incomes, especially in southern European economies," Barclays said.
