European car sales rose a fifth consecutive month in January as the start of an economic recovery in countries sharing the euro encouraged purchases of models such as Volkswagen AG (VOW)’s Golf hatchback and Audi A3 sedan, writes Bloomberg.
Registrations increased 5.2 percent from a year earlier to 967,800 vehicles, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA, said on Tuesday. That compares to a 13 percent jump in December sales. The stretch of gains is the longest since a 10-month period ended in March 2010.
The continent’s car crisis is far from over, as sales were still the second lowest for a January since 2003.
Bloomberg also makes a note of Dacia’s surge in car sales in Europe. European sales at Renault, which ranks third to Volkswagen and PSA Peugeot Citroen (UG) in deliveries in the region, jumped 13 percent last month, including a 38 percent surge at the low-cost Dacia marque.
Dacia drives Renault profit up 59 percent
The Romanian automarket dropped 13.1 percent in 2013, with 75.710 new registration. This constitutes the third most signifcant decline in the European Union, after Cyprus (-35.2 percent) and the Netherlands (-17 percent).