New car sales in Europe for the first quarter of this year increased in just four countries, figures show.

In the important market of Germany, new car sales from January to March fell from 834,416 last year to 798,521 this year, a fall of 4.3%.

Countries where new car sales have risen during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year are Belgium (+5.4%), Denmark (+12%), Luxembourg (+2.4%) and United Kingdom (+7.1%).

The biggest falls, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), were in Italy (-13%) and Portugal (-8.5%).

In Western Europe as a whole, new car sales fell from 4,051,419 to 3,888,894, a drop of 4%.