European car sales increase for the first time in 11 months (EU)

2011 Volkswagen CrossTouran partial front

Hurray, car sales in European have finally increased following an 11 month tumble. The 1.4% gain was led by Volkswagen and Opel.

The spike in demand came from Germany, France, and Poland, with over 1.01m vehicles sold last month in Europe. Volkswagen posted a 9.3% gain, with Opel posting 8.3%. PSA Peugeot-Citroen and Ford saw sales freefall. Sales of Ford vehicles fell -12% to 73,133 units, however, Stephen Odell, CEO of Ford Europe, said the firm would preferably sell vehicles at a profit than hook customers with bigger discounts.

France and Germany saw demand up by 13% and 15%, while Spain, Italy, and the UK let the side down, which saw declines of -28%, -21%, and -7.7%.