Demand in the European Union for new cars revved up 4.5 percent in May, the ninth consecutive gain recorded by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. The news is being taken as proof that the sector, which stalled last year, was heading for growth, though the EAMA warns that business still hasn’t recovered to pre-crash levels. Just to throw further cold water on the news, it pointed out that it was the second weakest May result posted since 2003.
However, 1.09 million new registrations were made by European drivers with every major market except for Italy’s marking an increase in sales. Germans bought 5.2 percent more cars in May, while the Spanish market gunned it up by nearly 17 percent. In all, reported the EAMA, new sales were up 6.9 percent over the first five months of 2014 compared with the same period in 2013, with nearly 5.5 million registrations recorded.
