In its latest West European car sales report, LMCA says that the SAAR for September was much stronger, picking up to 11.8 million units/year – the best performance so far this year and reflecting the improving business and consumer sentiment in the region.

LMCA added: ‘With the Eurozone coming out of recession in Q2, and economic activity forecast to slowly pick up over the remainder of 2013 and into 2014, we expect this to underpin expansion of the car market. With many countries still struggling with high unemployment and weak consumer spending though, we forecast a modest rise of 1% in the Western Europe car market for 2014.’

The firm cites the UK as a key driver for the stronger performance of the region overall. Its selling rate climbed to 2.4 million units/year, driven by a 17% increase in private sales. The latest result reflects a strengthening UK economy, with the market supported by low interest rates and good deals on new cars. Of the big five markets in the region, the UK is set to be the only one registering significant growth for 2013.

The German market was a little lower in September 2013 than a year earlier, though the selling rate picked up from the previous month. The selling rate in France climbed to 1.86 million units, a marked improvement on the preceding couple of months – LMCA continues to forecast a market outturn below 1.8 million units for the full year.

Registrations in Spain were up strongly from a year ago though September 2012 was hit by a VAT increase – the latest result was again scrappage incentive assisted.

Expected to be the largest faller in absolute sales volume terms in 2013, the Netherlands has seen its selling rate stabilize at around 390,000 units/year in the last few months.

The selling rate in Italy picked up slightly last month, though this improvement may be related to a pull forward in sales associated with a rise in VAT in October (VAT rising one percentage point to 22%). The recent tax move adds further pressure to a severely depressed market