The firm said the rise was influenced by factors such as an extra sales day but added that there is little doubt that some confidence is returning even to the beleaguered Southern European economies. The improved performance resulted in the final seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) increasing slightly from 12.757 million in February to 12.862 million units.

The German passenger car market posted another set of robust sales results in March with a rise of 9.0% y/y to 223,254 units. For the first quarter of the year, sales rose 6.4% y/y to 757,630 units.

In France passenger car registrations reached 196,572 units, up 9.3% y/y. As result of the improvement recorded this month, the year to date (YTD) registrations have grown by 6.9% y/y to 477,326 units.

The Spanish passenger car market once more continued its upward trajectory in March with registration recording a massive 40.5% y/y in 112,299 units which was the first time in 56 months that registrations on a monthly basis had surpassed 100,000 units.

The Italian passenger car market also gained 15.1% y/y during Marc. Registrations during the month increased from 140,189 units to 161,303 units, which had helped take registrations during the first quarter to 428,464 units, an increase of 13.5% y/y.

UK passenger car registrations have continued to surge due to the age-related number plate change. Registrations have grown by 6.0% y/y to 492,774 units, taking it to a monthly record for the market since the biannual number plate change regime was introduced during 1999.

IHS Automotive principal analyst, Tim Urquhart, commented on the figures saying: “There appears to be a general sentiment of improving confidence across the region and increasing willingness to make purchases by private buyers which has been a massive weakness, particularly in the ailing Southern European economies. In terms of Germany the rising number of private buyers entering the market in March shows a market that is in fundamentally positive shape due to improving macroeconomic indicators and the resultant rise in consumer confidence. Rising confidence and rising numbers of private buyers tallies with the trend of some generous pay deals and agreements that have been reached in Germany's industrial sector in recent weeks, not least the car industry, where production line workers have been given a significantly above-inflation pay settlement, with inflation coming in at just 0.9% for 2014. Models like the new Opel Corsa and VW Passat have been recent additions that have the potential to boost sales and later on in the year the new Audi A4 and VW Tiguan will be added to the list of popular new models, while the forthcoming revisions to the BMW 3-Series range should boost that perennial favourite's popularity. For the full year 2015, IHS Automotive sees passenger car sales in Germany rising by 3.1% y/y to 2.97 million units which would indicate a slowdown on the current rate of growth in the next three quarters of the year.

“The French passenger car market has accelerated further during March, which has helped the figures for the first quarter. This will be helped by new introductions and a low base of comparison during the first couple of months. However, it could also be supported by dealers keen to register enough vehicles to meet their first-quarter sales targets. Environmental factors are set to have a growing influence on demand in future. The French government has continued to tighten the bonus-malus carbon dioxide (CO2) tax over the past five years, and it is now seeking to remove the worst polluting diesel vehicles from the country's roads. From an economic perspective, IHS expects France to benefit from lower inflation and a weaker euro, which should boost activity during the first half of 2015. Nevertheless, growth is expected to be modest for the year as a whole as the economy remains under pressure. Although the economy has started to show signs of recovery, we do not expect activity to be strong enough to significantly lift the labour market. After barely surpassing the sales levels of 2013 – which was a low ebb for the market – during 2014, IHS Automotive expects improvements during 2015. We anticipate passenger car registrations to increase by almost 2.5% y/y to 1.84 million units supported by a better economic cycle and favourable product momentum, particularly from the French brands.

“This is the 19th month of growth for passenger car registrations in the Spanish passenger car market, as well as being the eighth consecutive quarter of growth for this category. As noted above, the market has been supported to some degree by the scrapping incentives that have brought private customers back into the market place. The number of vehicles registered by private buyers this month has increased by 36.1% y/y to 50,926 units. However, rental companies have been eager to meet the demand of holidaymakers over the Easter period in April, leading to a jump in registrations of 52.6% y/y to 35,810 units. Demand for company cars has also been strong during March, up by 34.2% y/y to 25,563 units. Some of these improvements will also be underpinned by greater confidence from the increasingly broad-based economic recovery, which in 2015 is being helped by a weaker euro aiding the export sector, lower energy costs reducing household bills, IHS Automotive expects demand to grow in 2015 by around 9.5% y/y to 936,000 and we also expect gains to continue until at least the end of the decade, with the 1-million-unit mark breached in 2018. Nevertheless, sales remain below the peaks over the past decade and seem unlikely to reach those levels again, as the market finds a naturally lower plateau.

“In Italy, this is the latest in a string of double-digit percentage gains since the beginning of 2015. There are concerns, however over how much of the uplift is being supplied by rental company demand in comparison to private demand. One of the suggestions put forward to counter this has been suspending road tax for three years after purchasing a low emitting vehicle. Nevertheless, after falling back into a technical recession last year, the economy's recovery will be kick-started during the first half of 2015 thanks to the sharp fall in global crude oil prices, the slide in the euro, and a round of income and business tax cuts from 2015. The return to growth is likely to receive some initial support from strengthening exports, but faces ongoing headwinds from fragile, challenging domestic demand conditions in line with the ongoing credit crunch and difficult labour-market conditions. Overall, we expect the economy to grow 0.6% in 2015 and 0.9% in 2016. IHS Automotive currently expects that the Italian passenger car market will grow by over 5% y/y in 2015 to 1.44 million registrations, with an even larger gain anticipated in 2016 that will continue until the end of the decade.

“The March gain in the UK is the 37th in succession. March is typically already one of the strongest during the year due to the biannual number plate changes. Many customers who have ordered vehicles in the preceding months will wait to have them delivered in March to benefit from the new "15" number plate. The continued gains come as a result of a range of factors that have helped lift the market in past months, including cheaper oil prices that help to reduce fuel costs. This has also had a knock-on impact on inflation, as has a supermarket price war. The economy remains buoyant while at the same time the prospect of an interest rate rise by the Bank of England has been pushed further into the future, making the cost of borrowing lower. IHS Automotive is now looking to increase its forecast for 2015 to 2.55 million units, a gain of 2.9% y/y. We are also looking at an around 3.0% y/y fall the following year to 2.47 million units. In the combined region we are still looking for a slower growth rate than we have seen so far this year which is still a highly possible scenario given the geopolitical and economic uncertainty in play. As a result we continue to forecast an uplift of 3.2% to 12.5 million units.”

For 2015 IHS Automotive expects passenger car demand in Western Europe to continue to grow, by around 3% y/y to around 12.5 million units. The company expects gains to continue until the end of the decade in line with the ongoing and gradual economic recovery, to hit a final figure of 13.5 million, although this is of course still well behind pre-crisis levels.