Europe automakers saw a record rise in demand for new cars last month, The Wall Street Journal reported.
For the first time since September 2011, new car registrations rose year-over-year for two consecutive months as demand jumped in October. The data released Tuesday is the latest indicator that the long European auto sales slump may be lessening.
While the year-over-year rise was good news for the auto industry, the October figures were still lower than new car registrations from a month earlier. The registrations last month marked the second-lowest number of vehicles registered during October since 2003.
A representation of sales, the new car registrations last month rose 4.7 percent year-over-year to 1 million vehicles, a drop from September's 5.4 percent growth to 1.16 million.
In the first 10 months of 2013, European Union new car registrations dropped 3.1 percent from the year earlier period.
Nearly all major European markets supported vehicle demand, which rose 2.3 percent in Germany, 2.6 percent in France, 4 percent in the United Kingdom and 34 percent in Spain, as measured by new car registrations.
The only major market where demand fell was Italy, which saw a 5.6 drop in registrations from a year earlier.
Among automakers, Toyota took the lead with sales rising 17 percent. General Motors registrations rose 6.2 percent, while Renault registrations jumped 14 percent. Daimler was ahead of the pack among German automakers with registrations rising 7 percent. Volkswagen saw a gain of 5.7 percent in new car registrations, while BMW AG managed a miniscule rise of 0.3 percent. Registrations for Fiat dropped 7.3 percent from October 2012.
The overall gains highlight the rise in consumer confidence as the 17 countries in the European Union come out of a recession, Bloomberg reported.
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