THE majority of European countries posted increases in the number of new car sales sold during the first three months of the year, compared to last year.

New figures produced by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) show sales across Europe as a whole are up by more than 3%. Separate sales figures for March show an increase of 4.1%, compared to the same month last year.

Country		Jan-Mar 06		Jan-Mar 05		Variance
Austria		77,999		74,594		+4.6%
Belgium		177,645		147,998		+20.0%
Denmark		35,545		32,284		+10.1%
Finland		43,809		42,266		+3.7%
France		526,502		526,233		+0.1%
Germany		797,143		756,283		+5.4%
Greece		76,059		77,838		-2.3%
Ireland		94,683		87,635		+8.0%
Italy		700,027		642,491		+9.0%
Luxembourg		14,222		14,612		-2.7%
Netherlands		159,919		150,693		+6.1%
Portugal		51,916		53,178		-2.4%
Spain		383,143		373,909		+2.5%
Sweden		61,256		59,556		+2.9%
UK		669,206		701,505		-4.6%
European Union (EU15)		3,869,074		3,741,075		+3.4%
Iceland		5,334		3,574		+49.2%
Norway		24,622		25,193		-2.3
Switzerland		61,546		59,796		+2.9%
EFTA*		91,502		88,563		+3.3%
EU15+EFTA		3,960,576		3,829,638		+3.4%
Czech Republic		27,568		27,844		-1.0%
Estonia		5,205		4,363		+19.3%
Hungary		45,030		42,200		+6.7%
Latvia		4,569		2,918		+56.6%
Lithuania		2,672		2,302		+16.1%
Poland		58,261		65,976		-11.7%
Slovakia		12,852		11,613		+10.7%
Slovenia		16,040		15,936		+0.7%
EU new members		172,197		173,152		-0.6%
Total Europe		4,132,773		4,002,790		+3.2%

*European Fair Trade Association