Europe’s Car Sales Rose 1% in November

Deliveries of passenger cars across Europe grew by only 8,900 units to 975,300 vehicles last month, ACEA reports. But the increase marked the third consecutive month of year-on-year improvement.

Among the region's five largest markets, November upturns for the U.K. (+7% to 159,600 units) and Spain (+15% to 55,500 units) offset declines in Germany (-2% to 254,700), France (-4% to 138,800) and Italy (-5% to 102,200).

Results were mixed for European carmakers. Group sales improved for Volkswagen (+3% to 256,500 units) and Renault (+9% to 90,300). But month-on-month demand fell at PSA (-1% to 104,000), General Motors (-4% to 73,200), Ford (-3% to 69,600), BMW (-7% to 62,500), Fiat (-6% to 55,600) and Daimler (-2% to 54,600).

Asian producers posting strong percentage growth in November included Mitsubishi (+55% to 8,000), Mazda (+31% to 11,200 units), Suzuki (+16% to 12,900) and Toyota (+7% to 42,900 units). Nissan's sales were unchanged at 31,200 vehicles. Sales fell at Hyundai (-8% to 30,500), Kia (-1% to 27,000) and Honda (-4% to 9,200).

Combined sales across Europe in January-November totaled 11.36 million, down 3% from the same period in 2012. The only major markets posting a gain were the U.K. (+10% to 2.11 million) and Spain (+2% to 662,200), according to ACEA.

The only Europe-based manufacturers to boost volume over the 11-month period were Renault (+2% to 997,000), Daimler (+4% to 634,700) and Jaguar Land Rover (+10% to 126,300).