Berlin - European car sales edged up during the first nine months of 2007, with a surge in car registrations in Central Europe helping to offset a slump in leading West European markets, data released Tuesday by the European automobile association (ACEA) showed. The Brussels-based association said European passenger car registrations rose a marginal 0.7 per cent in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period in 2006 after car sales soared by 14.2 per cent in the European Union new member states in Central Europe.
This helped to cancel out a 0.4-per-cent drop in Western Europe as sales in leading markets such as Germany, France and Spain fell.
The falls were particularly sharp in both France and Germany, which decreased by 9.2 per cent and eight per cent respectively during the first nine months.
New car registrations in Europe, including also Iceland, Norway and Switzerland fell 1.5 per cent in September from a year earlier to 1,420,043 units, the ACEA said.
The drop in German car sales came after a surge in new registrations last year ahead of the hefty rise in the nation's value added tax in January this year, the ACEA said.
The association's data also showed the French auto market recovering during September with car sales rising 3.2 per cent on the previous month.
Apart from Hungary, where car sales slumped 7.1 per cent during the nine-month period under review, auto registrations in Central Europe continued to soar.
Indeed, the dramatic increase in car sales in several Central European markets, especially in the Baltics will add to worries that some national economies of the region could be facing overheating.
While auto registrations in Estonia jumped by 27 per cent during the first nine months of the year, car sales raced ahead by more than 40 per cent in both Latvia and Lithuania from January to September.
Among the carmakers US-owned General Motors and Italy's core Fiat brand along with Germany's luxury BMW and Daimler, the manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz cars, enjoyed solid gains last month.
However, last month's sales for European carmakers such as France's PSA Group, which includes the Peugeot and Citroen brands, and its French rival Renault as well as Germany's Volkswagen were somewhat downbeat.
Despite the Volkswagen group reporting on Monday a 7.6-per-cent rise in worldwide sales of its core VW brand, the ACEA said Germany's VW brand sales in Europe dropped 6.8 per cent last month and by 0.6 per cent during the first nine months of the year.
The ACEA figures also painted a mixed picture for leading Asian carmakers, which in recent years have been building up their market share in Europe.
Toyota group sales slumped 7.2 per cent on the month and were essentially flat during the first nine months of the year, despite a 12.1 per cent increase in September sales of its luxury Lexus brand.
At the same time, Honda sales jumped by 12.2 per cent in September and by 14.9 per cent during the first nine months, while Suzuki also reported strong gains. However, sales for Korean carmakers KIA and Hyundai fell last month.
