European passenger-car registrations soared in April, recovering from the low level reported in the same month last year when coronavirus lockdowns dragged down sales.
New-car sales rose by 256 percent year-on-year to 1.04 million vehicles in the European Union, UK and EFTA markets, industry association ACEA said in a statement on Wednesday.
Sales were about 14 percent below what the industry averaged for the month in the decade before the pandemic. Also the year-ago figure was the lowest monthly figure since ACEA began gathering data in 1990.
The Land Rover brand showed the biggest gain, with sales jumping 1,264 percent to 13,629 vehicles from 999 in April last year. Jeep had a good month with registrations rising 627 percent.
Among other brands with big gains were Fiat, up 438 percent; Peugeot, up 366 percent; Seat, up 357 percent; Nissan, up 352 percent; and Hyundai, up 338 percent.
Among Europe's top three auto groups by volume, Volkswagen Group saw sales rise 228 percent; registrations at Stellantis increased 358 percent and Renault Group was up 192 percent.
Registrations increased almost 33-fold in the UK last month, second only to the 34-fold surge in Italy. The French market was up 569 percent and German registrations rose 90 percent.
Kerrigan Advisors’ proprietary annual OEM Survey of over 100 executives reveals that the majority of respondents are worried about the financial impact of Chinese automakers’ growing global market share, and most expect that the EV transition to be slower than expected. The survey also queried executives on their outlooks for dealership valuations and profitability, as well as their expectations for the future of dealer networks and facility requirements.
Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report
