Mazda also reported strong rises in all individual markets, outperforming the overall registrations trends in many cases by a wide margin. In the Nordic region, a combined 59% more Mazdas were sold compared to 2012 and sales in Norway more than doubled. Impressive rises were also seen in Poland (+73%), Portugal (+44%), Hungary (+41%), and the Czech Republic & Slovakia (+38%).

Within the big five European markets, year-on-year sales were up 32% in Spain, 19% in the UK, 18% in France, 11% in Germany and 7% in Italy.

The company raised its market share to 1.2%, up two-tenths from 2012.

The carmaker said the figures are attributable to its new model generation. European sales of the Mazda CX-5 grew 92% year-on-year to 51,393 units, while the sales of the latest Mazda6, introduced in early 2013, were up 71% to 32,563 units.

Mazda said it plans to sustain a strong pace of growth through 2014 as further new-generation models arrive and market conditions in Europe as a whole continue to improve.

‘We’ve had a fantastic year at Mazda in spite of the tough European market, a success that is being driven by great products,’ said Mazda Motor Europe COO Philip Waring. ‘This momentum will continue supported by the full roll-out of the award winning Mazda3 together with the growing popularity and awareness of the whole product range.’