THE majority of European countries posted increases in the number of new car sales sold during the first three months of the year, compared to last year.

New figures produced by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) show sales across Europe as a whole are up by more than 3%. Separate sales figures for March show an increase of 4.1%, compared to the same month last year.

Country Jan-Mar 06 Jan-Mar 05 Variance
Austria 77,999 74,594 +4.6%
Belgium 177,645 147,998 +20.0%
Denmark 35,545 32,284 +10.1%
Finland 43,809 42,266 +3.7%
France 526,502 526,233 +0.1%
Germany 797,143 756,283 +5.4%
Greece 76,059 77,838 -2.3%
Ireland 94,683 87,635 +8.0%
Italy 700,027 642,491 +9.0%
Luxembourg 14,222 14,612 -2.7%
Netherlands 159,919 150,693 +6.1%
Portugal 51,916 53,178 -2.4%
Spain 383,143 373,909 +2.5%
Sweden 61,256 59,556 +2.9%
UK 669,206 701,505 -4.6%
European Union (EU15) 3,869,074 3,741,075 +3.4%
Iceland 5,334 3,574 +49.2%
Norway 24,622 25,193 -2.3
Switzerland 61,546 59,796 +2.9%
EFTA* 91,502 88,563 +3.3%
EU15+EFTA 3,960,576 3,829,638 +3.4%
Czech Republic 27,568 27,844 -1.0%
Estonia 5,205 4,363 +19.3%
Hungary 45,030 42,200 +6.7%
Latvia 4,569 2,918 +56.6%
Lithuania 2,672 2,302 +16.1%
Poland 58,261 65,976 -11.7%
Slovakia 12,852 11,613 +10.7%
Slovenia 16,040 15,936 +0.7%
EU new members 172,197 173,152 -0.6%
Total Europe 4,132,773 4,002,790 +3.2%

*European Fair Trade Association