Mid-market car brands surge with European market upturn

Enterprise

16/04/2015 07:00

PARIS, April 16 (Reuters) - Europe's auto-market recovery 
gained a firmer footing in March, according to industry data 
published on Thursday, as mid-market brands bounced back and 
no-frills "crisis car" sales slowed. 
    Registrations rose 10.8 percent to 1.65 million cars across 
the region last month, the Brussels-based Association of 
European Carmakers said in a statement, taking the first-quarter 
expansion to 8.5 percent. 
    After months of hesitant growth, the upturn appears to be 
firing on all cylinders with the five biggest markets - Germany, 
Britain, France, Italy and Spain - all posting solid gains. 
    "All major markets contributed positively to the overall 
expansion," the European industry association said. 
    Mid-market models, which had suffered most in a prolonged 
slump that ended last year, outpaced the budget stablemates that 
had eclipsed them during the crisis, when frugality reigned. 
    The Renault  RENA.PA  brand saw sales jump 11.6 percent in 
March, while the French carmaker's low-cost Dacia cars posted a 
lesser gain of 7.5 percent. 
    A 6.4 percent sales increase at Volkswagen's  VOWG_p.DE  
spartan Skoda division was outshone by the core VW badge - which 
saw registrations surge 11.5 percent. Even FCA's  FCHA.MI  
downtrodden Fiat lineup produced 13.7 percent growth. 
    Ford  F.N , a middle-of-the-road badge par excellence, 
recorded healthy gains of 8.9 percent in March and 7.4 percent 
for the quarter, after years of European pain. 
    U.S. rival General Motors  GM.N  meanwhile recorded a more 
modest 4.3 percent gain for its European Opel marque. 
    The Detroit-based carmaker nonetheless predicted last week 
that rebounding European demand would power a return to regional 
profit in 2016, offsetting deep losses in Russia. 
 ID:nL5N0X63G4  
         
     
 
 (Reporting by Laurence Frost; Editing by Christian Plumb) 
 ((laurence.frost@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 56 83; Reuters 
Messaging: laurence.frost.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: EUROPE VEHICLEREGISTRATIONS/