Spain's car sales rise by 23.5 pct in July

Sales of new cars in Spain rose by 23.5 percent in July when compared with the same month of a year earlier, according to data published on Monday by Spain's automobile industry organizations.

The Association of Car Manufacturers (ANFAC), the Federation of Association of Dealers of the Automotive sector (FACONAUTO) and the Association of Car Dealers (GANVAM) posted a total of 102,922 new cars purchased in July.

Sales of new cars have been rising for 23 consecutive months and for the first time since 2008 sales surpassed 100,000 units.

Firms bought a total of 28,770 new cars in July, which meant a 38.9 percent increase in comparison with a year earlier, while sales of private cars rose by 18.2 percent with a total of 59,571 purchases made in July.

According to the organizations, in the first seven months of the year sales of new cars rose by 22.3 percent when compared with the same period of a year earlier to a total of 658,144 purchases. This is the best figure in this period since 2010, the organizations pointed out.

The Director of Communications at ANFAC, David Barrientos, said Spanish consumers were regaining confidence but warned confidence needed to increase more in order to renew Spain's fleet, one of the oldest in Europe.

The president of GANVAM, Juan Antonio Sanchez Torres, and the president of FACONAUTO, Jaume Roura, highlighted the role of the plan PIVE in the rise of sales as it gives financial aid to buy new vehicles.

The sector expects to sell more than 1.2 million vehicles by the end of the year. Endit