BERLIN: Germany car sales gains accelerated last month as price cuts and economic-growth prospects encouraged consumers to buy new models such as Renault SA’s Clio hatchback and a station wagon variant of Volkswagen AG’s Golf.
Registrations rose 6.2 percent in January from a year earlier to 1.03 million vehicles, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, or ACEA, said today. That compares with increases of 4.9 percent in December and 5.4 percent for all of 2014, the first year of growth after a six-year drop.
“European car sales in January looked very strong,” George Galliers, a London-based analyst at ISI Evercore, said by phone. “Overall, we’ll be continuing to think that European registrations are likely to surprise to the upside this year.”
Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus, which all received European Union-led bailouts from 2010 to 2013, were among smaller markets in the region where car sales jumped the most last month.
