New car sales in Europe rebounded sharply in April, shwoing a 9.6-percent rise over the same month last year despite global financial problems and soaring fuel prices, the ACEA European automakers association said on Friday.
The bounce came after a slump of 9.5 percent in March amid a credit crunch and financial insecurity which has spooked buyers in the region's biggest markets.
The yo-yo figures, which showed similar rises in both western Europe and the newer eastern EU states in April, were partly due to extra working days in most European nations last month thanks to the early arrival of Easter this year.
"In April most European countries benefited from two or three additional working days, which helped the majority of markets post a growth in new car registrations despite the US financial crisis and further increases in fuel prices," the carmakers'a association said in a statement.
Oil prices were above 125 dollars a barrel on Friday, close to record levels.
A total of 1,421,230 new cars were registered in April in the 28 countries reviewed by the ACEA -- the 27 EU member states, minus Cyprus and Malta, plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.
Germany, the biggest European market, continued to make up ground following a relatively poor last year due to a sales tax rise, with its April 2008 figure of 317,960 new car registrations representing a 20 percent rise over the same month last year.
The German figures were "supported by an improving labour market and a recovering consumer confidence," the ACEA said.
By contrast Italy, the second biggest European car market, saw figures continue to slide, down 2.9 percent to 201,844. There would have been a bigger deceleration of 12 percent if it had not been for the extra working days, the automakers' association said.
Regarding constructors' figures, the biggest European automaker Volkswagen enjoyed strong sales growth of 11.4 percent to 293,567 units.
Its compatriots did even better in ales growth terms with BMW registering a 24.7 percent increase to 80,295 units and Daimler 17.6 percent to 79,660 units.
The second biggest seller, France's Peugeot Citroen, enjoyed a more modest 6.8 percent hike in sales to 183,229 units with Ford Group sales up 7.8 percent at 141,488.
Toyota sales continued their downward trend, dropping 1.7 percent with its top end Lexus marque suffering a 12.9 percent fall to just 2,704 new registrations in April.
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