Only Ireland and Luxembourg saw falling sales and the biggest increase was experienced in Iceland, where sales increased by 47%.

A spokesman for the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, which produced the figures, said: ‘Cumulative figures for 2004 showed a marked pick-up in the demand for light trucks. New LCV registrations increased by 9% in Western Europe, compared to 2003 (+8.7% for the EU15). All the main markets contributed positively to this result: Spain (+12.4%), the UK (+8.5%), France (+7%), Germany (+5.1%) and Italy (+3.3%).’

Country		Jan-Dec 04		Jan-Dec 03		Variance
Austria		28,885		26,253		10%
Belgium		56,601		49,351		14.7%
Denmark		44,865		1,986		40.3%
Finland		17,166		14,484		18.5%
France		407,622		380,918		7%
Germany		185,535		176,521		5.1%
Greece		22,494		17,681		27.2%
Ireland		30,107		30,495		-1.3%
Italy		221,108		213,944		3.3%
Luxembourg		2,670		3,431		-22.2%
Netherlands		86,788		77,009		12.7%
Portugal		71,283		69,060		3.2%
Spain		333,012		296,331		12.4%
Sweden		30,857		28,047		10%
UK		329,599		303,755		8.5%
European Union		1,868,592		1,719,266		8.7%
Iceland		1,629		1,108		47%
Norway		31,241		24,450		27.8%
Switzerland		21,374		20,002		6.9%
EFTA		54,244		45,560		19.1%
Western Europe		1,922,836		1,764,826		9%