European car sales keep rising

The European car market’s fightback continued in May, but not for everybody, with the diesel-cheating Volkswagen Group’s share falling yet again.

Most of Europe’s volume brands benefited in a month that saw sales rise 16 per cent over the same month last year, with 1.33 million cars sold across the European Union and the bloc’s additional free-trade countries like Switzerland.

The May sales increase follows growth of more than nine per cent in April and 9.3 per cent last year, with new passenger vehicle registrations topping 12.6 million in 2015.

“Looking ahead, it is expected that the market will maintain its positive momentum," the European car industry’s peak body, the ACEA, said today.

Year-to-date registrations to the end of May were up 9.7 per cent to just under 6.6 million cars, encouraging the ACEA to raise its full-year forecast from two per cent growth to five per cent.

It was the 33rd consecutive month of growth for the European car market, which has recovered slowly but consistently on the back of incentives since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Europe’s second biggest car-maker, the PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen and DS), leapt 18 per cent, while Renault and its budget brand Dacia jumped 28 per cent in sales.

Fiat Chrysler climbed 25 per cent, too, helped by the Fiat brand’s own lift to 27 per cent on the back of the new four-door Tipo and the 500X.

The Volkswagen Group struggled, with sales rising 8.8 per cent to limit the group to half the full market’s growth.

It was hampered (yet again) by the struggling Seat, which saw its sales decline 0.4 per cent, while the Volkswagen brand itself only rose four per cent. It wasn’t all bad news at the VW Group, though, with Audi leaping forward by 20 per cent, Skoda climbing 14 per cent and Porsche up 6.1 per cent.

The other big German premium brands also had successful months, with Daimler climbing 15 per cent, while both Daimler and Audi were outstripped by BMW’s 22 per cent of growth.

Another brand under fire for diesel deceit, Opel, saw its registrations up 12 per cent, while perennial big name Ford climbed 7.8 per cent.

Fiat’s climb in sales was intertwined with Italy’s continued comeback as a large car market, with registrations surging 27 per cent on the peninsula, while the French car market grew 22 per cent. The German market, the largest in the bloc, grew 12 per cent.