Latest figures LMC Automotive show that the year ended with a total of 13.2 million sales.

December figures were particularly strong, with a selling rate of 14.3 million although LMCA said such a strong result should be viewed with some caution, labelling December as a “spiky” month in selling rate terms, with incentive pushes helping OEMs achieve year‐end targets. In particular, last month saw a major pull forward in sales in the Netherlands because of taxation change, while the UK market also saw an unusually high selling rate — adjusting for these outlier results, LMCA said we would see the West European selling rate closer to 13.5 mn units/year for the month.

Looking at individual markets, the UK market finished 2015 at 2.63 million units — a record result — helped by attractive finance deals and a solid economic performance. The December selling rate of nearly 3 million units/year was unusually high, possibly indicating increased incentive activity.

In Germany, December sales were up by 7.7% — the year‐to‐date market was up by 5.6%. The largest car market in the region has gained 170,000 units for 2015 versus 2014, taking it to a level not seen since 2009, when the government heavily incentivised sales on the back of economic recession.

And double‐digit percentage growth again came from Italy and Spain last month, the latter market climbing above 1 million units for the full year (the best result in seven years). Sales in France were also up comfortably for 2015, though, as with Italy and Spain, volumes remain below historical norms.

LMCA added that it continues to forecast further solid growth this year but in YoY terms, a little weaker than previously forecast because of the extent of the Dutch distortion. The economic backdrop is expected to continue to improve in 2016, which will support ongoing recovery in the Italian and Spanish markets, with scope for further improvement in France. The Spanish market continues to benefit from the PIVE scheme, which has been extended until mid‐year, while improving consumer confidence has helped in Italy in recent months.

It added that the larger markets, Germany and the UK, are expected to provide less support for regional growth over coming years as they are already around stable medium‐term levels — in the case of the UK, when interest rates do begin to rise (though the chances of a rate rise in 2016 have now receded somewhat) and OEMs rely less heavily on it as a source of relief from weaker markets elsewhere in Europe, we expect UK car sales to ease back a little from current levels. Both Germany and the UK have seen market expansion driven by improvements in corporate rather than private sales in 2015, the growth in business confidence probably helping account for this.