European Sales Continue Climb

PARIS – Passenger-vehicle sales in the European Union rose for the sixth straight month in February, up 8.0% from like-2013.

While nobody has yet raised their forecasts for the year, the 6.6% growth after two months is well ahead of the general expectation of a 2% gain for 2014.

And for the six months since September, when sales started picking up, the market is running 6.1% ahead of year-ago. The 335,000-unit improvement over the six months is the equivalent of putting several factories back to work.

Volume remained low in the month at 861,058 units, as 10 of the past 11 Februarys have scored higher results, a clear indication the market reached its bottom last year and consumer optimism is returning.

“Most manufacturers are gaining more peace of mind, more room for maneuver as each market recovers,” says Carlos Da Silva, manager of European sales forecasts for IHS. “As a consequence, they can definitely move from survival to revival mode. This is a great step forward.”

France and Cyprus were the only markets posting declines. France fell 1.4% and tiny Cyprus registered only 636 cars, down seven units from the year earlier. The U.K., which has enjoyed growth for more than a year, was up 3.0%, while the largest market of Germany rose 4.3%. Italy grew 8.6% and Spain posted a 17.8% jump.

All manufacturers but Honda and Hyundai scored gains for the month. Honda, whose sales were off 11.0% in February and 7.4% year to date, appears to be revising its strategy in Europe. The automaker has decided to stop selling its Insight and CRZ hybrids, whose sales were down more than 60% last year and totaled fewer than 2,000 units.

Volkswagen and Kia grew with the market, at 8.0%, and Ford, General Motors, Volvo, Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Suzuki all gained market share by growing sales faster.

The relative success of smaller-volume automakers came at the expense of luxury brands. Only Audi (+13.1%) and Lexus (+29.3%) improved their market shares. Jaguar sales were off 7.9%, Land Rover was up just 1.8% and BMW and Mercedes-Benz gained 5.5%.

Dacia, the highest-volume low-cost brand, saw sales rise 34.0%, another indication the market is now growing from the bottom up.

Peugeot, which won Car of the Year in February for the 308, saw sales rise 6.8%. The Peugeot 308 was the second C-class segment winner in a row, after the Volkswagen Golf in 2013. The two winners before that were electric cars: the Nissan Leaf and Opel Ampera.