(Bloomberg) -- European car sales growth accelerated in March as the region's improving economy fueled demand for vehicles made by automakers such as Volkswagen Group, Renault Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Monthly registrations climbed 11 percent from a year earlier to 1.65 million autos, the Brussels-based auto industry association ACEA said in a statement Thursday.
It was the 19th consecutive month of growth and the March gain was the biggest in at least a year.
It was the 19th consecutive month of growth and the March gain was the biggest in at least a year.
First-quarter deliveries rose 8.5 percent to 3.64 million cars as a recovery from a two-decade low in 2013 picked up momentum.
"It appears we are finally seeing a strong rebound in the market after years of under-performance," Jonathon Poskitt, an analyst with LMC Automotive in Oxford, England, said in a report this month.
The research company raised its 2015 forecast for western European deliveries to 12.84 million cars, which would be the highest figure since 2010.
Robust demand is a sign of the brightening outlook in the region, even as the euro falls, Greece's funding struggles continue and Russian sales collapse.
Peter Fuss, senior automotive advisory partner EY, said in a statement ahead of ACEA's release that "political uncertainty -- namely with respect to Russia and Greece -- remains high and continue to negatively impact growth of car sales within Europe."
Despite this, executive and consumer confidence in the countries using the euro rose to a 3 1/2-year high last month, adding to signs that an economic recovery is stabilizing.
Spain reported the strongest car-sales gain among Europe's five biggest auto markets, as a government scrappage program encouraging trade-ins of old vehicles underpinned a 41 percent surge. In the UK, registrations rose 6 percent to the highest level this century. Germany, Europe's largest economy, posted a 9 percent auto-sales gain, while demand jumped 9.3 percent in France and 15 percent in Italy, ACEA said.
The industry group compiles statistics from the 28 European Union countries, excluding Malta, as well as Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.
Differing discounts
Steeper discounts are helping to encourage sales. Rebates by German car dealers widened in March to an average 12.2 percent off the list price from 11.6 percent a year earlier, according to trade publication Autohaus PulsSchlag.
The best deals were available on Fiat models, with average rebates of 14.4 percent, while luxury-car maker Mercedes-Benz bucked the trend and reduced incentives to 8.7 percent from 10.4 percent a year ago.
VW Group, Europe's biggest carmaker, increased sales in the region by 10 percent last month, lifted by higher demand at the VW brand (+12 percent), Czech-based Skoda (+6.4 percent) and Porsche (+56 percent due to strong demand for the Macan SUV).
Renault posted an 11 percent increase in the region, also helped by its namesake brand's 12 percent monthly gain to 107,407 vehicles and value brand Dacia's 7.5 percent increase to 38,816 units.
Italian-American carmaker Fiat Chrysler sold 16 percent more cars as demand tripled at Jeep to 9,256 registrations because of strong sales for the Italy-made Renegade subcompact SUV.
Daimler's Mercedes-Benz topped the three main German premium automakers' European performance last month with a 17 percent sales jump.
VW Group's Audi division posted a 6.8 percent increase, while BMW Group's namesake brand sold 4.5 percent more cars. Daimler's group registrations rose 20 percent as a new lineup at the Smart city-car division led to a 57 percent gain.
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