The European car market grew by 7.3% in February – Les Echos

The new car registrations in the EU rose 7.3% in February to 924,440 units. Accumulated first two months of 2015 showed a 7% increase with nearly 2 million cars sold.

Trend looking good for the new car market Europe. Sales in the European Union (EU) have in fact recorded an increase of 7.3% in February for the eighteenth consecutive month (after + 6.7% in January), said Tuesday the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA), thanks to a double-digit growth of the Spanish markets, Italian and British.

A total of 924,440 passenger cars were registered in the EU last month (see document ACEA). This figure remains below the 1.1 million registered vehicles in February 2008, before the crisis has had devastating effects on the markets of southern Europe. However they contribute to the recovery. Spain has registered 26.1% more cars than in February 2014; Italy, the increase was 13.2%; Portugal, certainly on low volumes, the fastest growth in the EU with 35.6%.

The biggest European car market, Germany, recorded on it rose 6.6%, while the UK grew by 12% and France 4.5%.

In the first two months of the year, European registrations of new cars rose by 7% compared to the same period in 2014.

Volkswagen remains largely leader

automobile manufacturers the Volkswagen Group is by far the leader in the old continent, its array of brands allowing it to capture 25.3% of the market with 233,527 units in February, driven by sales of Volkswagen cars bearing the logos (+ 13%), Audi (+ 2.9%), Skoda (+ 7.3%), Seat (+ 23.1%) and Porsche (40.9%).

Among French manufacturers, PSA (Peugeot, Citroën DS) remains the second European group, but with 105,611 units, its market share declined by 0.7 points to 11.4%. The Lion brand grew by 4.5%, but Citroen fell 0.7% and DS oriented brand “high end” which recently became independent of Chevrons, collapsed 20.8%.

The other big French group Renault, however earns 0.2 points of market share to 10.3% due to higher than average growth in February, the month during which he passed 95,273 private vehicles. Should this result in great shape car hit the diamond (+ 14.5%) while the Dacia brand low cost by 0.3%.

Suit Group Italian-American Chrysler Fiat (CFA) whose registrations increased by 11.9% compared to February 2014. The Jeep brand, the new range, is like a champion in all categories with an increase of no less than 200.7% .

and double-FCA on a Ford and Opel month German general respectively dependent on US giants Ford Motor Company and General Motors. Car registrations in the blue oval rose slightly less than the market, to 6.9%, while the Opel group (including Vauxhall and Chevrolet) declined by 7.8% due to the interlocking end of the marketing Chevrolet products in Europe.

The insolent health of German specialists in luxury

The luxury German specialists displayed However insolent health, BMW (with Mini) seeing their registrations soar by 16.8% compared to February 2014 and Daimler (Mercedes and Smart) increased by 13.2%, mainly due to Smart whose range is brand new (44.9%).

Toyota remains the first Japanese group in the EU, its 40,000 registrations in February (+ 7.6%) allowing him to win 4 3% market share. But his lead over Nissan decreases, the Renault partner having put on the road last month some 38,000 cars in the EU, an increase of 28.8% year on year.