FRANKFURT/LONDON: The auto sales in most of the Western countries have registered 14.3 per cent year-on-year growth in June.
According to the industry data, car sales increased to 1.31 million registrations last month, from 1.15 million in the same month a year earlier and 1.06 million in May, data from LMC Automotive showed. Almost all major markets performed well, helped by extra selling days.
Only Greece, Ireland and Finland showed a fall in June sales compared with a year earlier, dropping 21.6 percent, 14 percent and 2.5 percent respectively, LMC said.
“Despite growing concerns over Greece’s future in the euro zone and the implications for the currency union, the car market in Western Europe grew strongly in June and indeed in the first half of the year,” LMC Automotive analyst Emiliano Lewis said.
“While uncertainty created by the Greek crisis clouds the picture of coming months, after a strong start we still expect 2015 to be up comfortably on the previous year,” Lewis said.
Sales figures and forecasts showed the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate rose to 13.22 million in June from 12.51 million in May.
Sales were up 8 percent in the first six months of 2015, according to the LMC data, which is compiled from published registration figures and projections for some smaller markets.
British new car registrations in June rose 12.9 percent year-on-year to 257,817 vehicles, and marked the best half-year performance on record, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said on Monday.
Sales in Britain were up 7.0 percent in the first six months of the year, although the society said it expected slower growth later this year.
