LATEST sales figures show that new car registrations in western Europe during November increased year on year.

National figures for the month show that nine out of the 15 European Union countries posted increases, ranging from +0.6% in Germany to +29.2% in Finland.

Spain, which was up 12.6%, was the best performer among the five bigger markets, while Portugal (+6.8%) and Denmark (+0.9%) are back to positive results for the first time this year.

However, there were some losers in the figures, produced by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, including a 1.5% fall in the UK to a market down 17% in Ireland.

Total sales reached 1,046,147 units in Europe during November, an increase of 1.1% on the same month the previous year.

However, year-to-date sales figures reached 13,239,261, a drop of 1.3% on last year's 13,411,302 units.