79 million units

By Sam jessop
European new car sales have continued their strong start to 2006 after recording a year-on-year sales increase of 4.1 per cent in March.
The latest figures from Acea, the European trade body, show that total registrations reached 1.79 million units last month, buoyed by additional working days in three of the five major European markets.
German car dealers benefited from an additional two days of trading, whereas dealers in the UK and Spain received an extra day.
Three of the five major markets posted growth – sales in Italy rose the most with an increase of 8.6 per cent to more than 250,000 units.
Spain also recorded an impressive March with an increase of 8.3 per cent and sales in Germany rose 6.9 per cent to 358,072 units.
The UK reported the largest sales volumes of any European country – a result of the
bi-annual plate-change – but sales of 435,847 units in March were not enough to prevent a slight dip of 1.6 per cent compared with the same month last year.
In the final major market, sales in France were down 2.5 per cent to just below 200,000.
According to Acea, the first quarter of 2006 is now 3.2 per cent up on 2005 figures, despite the declines in the French and UK markets.
Last month's increase in sales follows year-on-year rises in January and February of 2.6 and 2.1 per cent respectively and first quarter sales this year now stand at 4.13 million units compared with four million last year.
Of the brands taking advantage of Europe's burgeoning new car market, the VW Group recorded one of the best results in March.
The carmaker continued to strengthen its grip on the European new car market at the expense of its volume rivals as its sales across the 23 European Union member countries rose 9.6 per cent to almost 329,000 units.
First quarter sales for the German carmaker are now up 12.5 per cent to nearly 784,000 units. This means that its share of the European new car market has risen to 19 per cent from 17.4 per cent in 12 months.
The Fiat Group continued its renaissance on the back of the newly-launched Punto. Fiat sales were up 28.3 per cent year-on-year and up 19.6 per cent across the group as a whole to over 127,000 units.
The PSA Group and GM Group maintained their shares of the market with modest sales increases of 0.9 and 1.7 per cent.
The Ford Group saw sales fall 1.3 per cent in March with Jaguar registrations down 41 per cent year-on-year.
But the Renault Group suffered one of the worst results among the volume carmakers. Year-on-year sales fell 4.8 per cent in the growing market, resulting in a year-to-date market share of 8.8 per cent – a fall of 1.2 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2005.
Of the Japanese manufacturers Mazda and Suzuki performed the most impressively with sales increases of 15.9 and 19.2 per cent but Nissan saw volumes slump by 17.6 per cent.
Toyota Group sales were up 7.3 per cent to just over 100,000 units with its luxury Lexus brand posting an increase of 85 per cent.
With the exception of Jaguar, the remaining luxury carmakers also had a strong month.
DaimlerChrysler sales were up 9.5 per cent – its Mercedes division growing volumes by 14.4 per cent to nearly 79,000 units.
The BMW Group also fared well, increasing sales by over 10 per cent with its flagship brand recording a 12 per cent rise.