OREANDA-NEWS. Automotive market in Russia, which in 2014 became the third greatness in Europe, in January of this year ranked only the fifth in the "European championship."

According to data received by the agency "AUTOSTAT" at National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of Europe, the leader by vehicle sales in January is still Germany, where it was sold 211,337 vehicles (+ 2.6%). According to the Association of the German Automotive Industry (VDA), orders for new vehicles rose by 16% the last month, which was a good start for 2015. Second place in the "European championship" was occupied by the United Kingdom, whose car market grew by 6.7% to 164,856 vehicles.

According to the British Society of Motor Manufacturers and dealers (SMMT), it is the best indicator for January since 2007 and the driver of the market has become corporate sales, which increased by 18.1%. Then France follows with indicator of 132,824 sold cars (+ 5.9%). As noted in the French Chamber of Commerce (CCFA),

after three months of the fall, the country's car market once again came out "in plus". Slightly less result was shown by Italy - 131,382 sold units (+ 10.9%). As noted in the Italian Association of Automobile Manufacturers (ANFIA), double-digit growth in car sales was recorded in March of 2010 last time, when the program of scrappage bonus was active. At the same time, the current result is still far from pre-crisis levels - more than 250 thousand cars in January of 2007.

If we take into account Russia during the consideration of the automotive market in Europe, our country has fallen to fifth place of the European ranking. According to the agency "AUTOSTAT", sales of passenger vehicles were about 110 million units (excluding LCV) the last month. We also add that, thanks to a stimulating program to subsidize purchases of new fuel-efficient cars, Spanish car market showed the highest growth among the European leaders - by 27.5% to 68,118 vehicles. As noted in the Spanish Association of manufacturers of cars and trucks (ANFAC), it is the best indicator of growth in January for the last 20 years and the largest volume of sales - since 2010, while a positive trend is observed 17 consecutive months.