European new car registration growth more-than-halved in March, but marked the 31st successive month of increase, figures from the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) showed Friday.
New passenger car registrations climbed 6 percent year-on-year in March after a 14.3 percent jump in February. The number of units sold were over 1.7 million.
In volume terms the outcome was close to March 2007 levels, just before the economic crisis hit the automotive industry, the ACEA said.
Among the main markets, Italy registered the strongest growth of 17.4 percent, followed by France with 7.5 percent increase. Car registrations in the U.K. rose 5.3 percent.
Meanwhile, Spain and Germany logged declines of 0.7 percent and 0.04 percent, respectively.
This year Easter fell in March, reducing the number of sales days, while it was April in 2015, the ACEA noted.
During the first quarter of the year, car sales grew 8.2 percent to 3.82 million units. Italy recorded the biggest increase of 20.8 percent among major markets.
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