The UK and Spain lead a new car sales recovery in the EU. And as 2013 draws to a close, passenger car registrations in the EU have gone up by 1.2 per cent in November. This is the third consecutive month, in comparison to last year, that car registrations have increased amid timid signs of recovery in Europe.

Although the latest figures provided by the European manufacturers’ association are encouraging to dealers, it should be noted that major markets have declined by 2.7% between January and November when compared to the same period last year. Downturns continued in Germany (-4.9%), France (-7.1%) and Italy (-7.7%) throughout the eleven months of 2013, although Spain (+2.1%) and the UK (+9.9%) saw a considerable rise in business activity.

In fact, increasing registrations in the UK (+7.0%) and Spanish (+15.1%) markets accounted for the EU’s overall 1.2% upturn in the month of November. In total, 938,021 new cars were registered across the Union last month. The latest figures show that the recovery in the EU is still very fragile and conditions vary greatly depending on the markets. CECRA and its European Car Dealers (ECD) Division are currently preparing a forecast for passenger vehicle registrations in 2014, which will be based on input received from CECRA’s members. The forecast will be published in January 2014.