The firm’s data shows that the growth was helped by a 9.3% year-on-year increase in March, marking the seventh consecutive month of growth for the European car market.

Of the 30 markets studied, 24 posted year-on-year increases during Q1 2014, and 23 of those recorded positive growth during March 2014. Great Britain benefited from the usual March volume peak, the second best since the current year identifier number plate system was introduced in 2001. Year-on-year sales for March in the UK were up 17.7%, and Q1 growth was also in the double digits at 13.7%. The four other largest European markets – France, Germany, Italy and Spain – also recorded increases for both the month and the quarter.

A number of small and medium markets posted impressive increases of between 20% and 30% for March. Among them were Croatia (+28.7%), Greece (+30.7%), Hungary (+22.1%), Ireland (+23.2%) and Sweden (+22.7%).

A notable exception was the Netherlands, down 17.6% for the month compared to March 2013 and down 7.0% for Q1 year-on-year. However, this drop is likely to have been caused by a tax change that came into effect at the start of the year, causing sales to be brought forward to Q4 2013, rather than an underlying lack of demand.

Looking at the brands, Volkswagen continues to lead the way after sales grew by 4.7% in March. However, second-placed Ford (+12.6%) and third-placed Opel/Vauxhall (+13.9%) both closed the gap thanks to double-digit growth during the month. JATO added that it has been a particularly good first quarter for Ford and for Renault, both posting year-on-year growth of 10.8% compared to Q1 2013. All the top 10 brands recorded growth both for March and for Q1 2014.

Outside the Top 10, Dacia saw a noteworthy Q1 improvement, with year-on-year growth of 42% compared to the first three months of 2013. Growth was driven by strong demand for its Sandero and Logan models. Mazda, Nissan, Seat, Skoda, Suzuki, Toyota and Volvo have all performed well in 2014 so far.

Volkswagen’s Golf continues to lead the market with steady double-digit sales growth; sales were up 14.1% in March and 15.3% for the year-to-date. Meanwhile Ford is still seeing a positive impact from its revamp of the Fiesta at the end of 2012 – Q1 sales were up 10.1% on Q1 2013, while a number of other Ford models including the Kuga, Mondeo, S-Max and Galaxy also increased sales sharply. It has also been a good start to 2014 for Renault’s new Captur, with over 41,000 units sold across Europe so far this year.

A number of other new models have seen strong demand during the first quarter of 2014. Among them are Citroën’s new C4 Picasso/Grand C4 Picasso the Nissan Note, the new Seat Leon and BMW’s 4 Series.

Despite falling out of the top 10 models for March, the Skoda Octavia and the Audi A3 series are two of the best-performing models in Europe so far this year, with Q1 growth of 38.5% and 50.5% respectively. The Fiat 500 has risen to the number 10 spot for March on the back of high demand in France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy. There was also strong British demand for the Vauxhall Astra, helping it to become the ninth best-selling model in Europe during March.

Gareth Hession, vice president of research at JATO Dynamics, commented: ‘The European new car market has clearly picked up in 2014 where it left off at the end of last year. Three consecutive quarters of growth, which includes the last seven months in a row, is fantastic news for the industry. Car sales have grown so far this year in over 80% of the countries we analysed. We expect the European market to continue to perform well through Q2.