Car Sales in Europe Rise for Second Month

Registrations of new passenger vehicles across Europe rose nearly 5% to 1.04 million units in October compared with the same month in 2012, industry association ACEA reports.

Last month's advanced marked the first time sales improved for two consecutive months since September 2011.

Volume in October grew 2% to 265,400 units in Germany, 3% to 166,500 units in France and 4% to 157,300 units in the U.K.

In Spain, a renewed government incentive program triggered a 34% surge in demand to 60,300 vehicles. But October sales in Italy fell almost 6% to 110,800 vehicles.

Among high-volume carmakers, October sales were up for Volkswagen (+6% to 268,900), Renault (+14% to 98,900) and General Motors (+6% to 75,000).

But sales last month declined for PSA (-1% to 120,300) and Fiat (-7% to 60,200). Ford's volume was virtually flat at 75,500 units.

For premium brands, October sales advanced less than 1% to 63,900 units at BMW and slipped less than 1% to 58,000 units at Audi. Demand climbed 9% to 50,900 units at Mercedes and jumped 16% to 10,500 vehicles at Jaguar Land Rover.

ACEA says Europe's sales for January-October totaled 10.39 million units compared with 10.72 million in the same period of 2012. Last month's sales increase reduced the year-on-year volume gap to 3%, the smallest so far this year.