Spain's car sales rise by 11.2 pct in June

Sales of new cars in Spain rose by 11.2 percent in June when compared with the same month of a year earlier to a total of 123,790 purchases, according to data released on Friday by Spain's automobile industry organizations.

The rise was the best data for a month in six years, highlighting that car sales had been surpassing the 100,000 unities for four months in a row, said the Association of Car Manufacturers (ANFAC), the Federation of Association of Dealers of the Automotive sector (FACONAUTO) and the Association of Car Dealers (GANVAM).

Sales of private cars increased by 15.3 percent in June year-on-year to 58,327 unities and firms bought 30,029 cars rising by 8.2 percent when compared with June, 2015.

In the first six months of the year car sales rose by 12.2 percent to a total of 623,234 unities, the best semester since 2008, the organizations reported.

Sales of private cars increased by 9.2 percent to 301,071 purchases and firms bought 160,977 unities, which meant 16 percent increase when compared with the same period of a year earlier.

The organizations said that families' disposable income had increased allowing them to boost consumption thanks to lower interest rates, lower mortgages, lower CPI, lower energy costs and the fiscal reform.

David Barrientos, from the communication department at ANFAC said that the first semester had an excellent result, highlighting that it was the best one since 2008 and emphasizing the help provided by the PIVE, which provides financial aid to prospective buyers.

Juan Antonio Sanchez Torres, president of GANVAM, said that June is traditionally a good month for purchases and highlighted the fact that the plan PIVE ends in July had rushed purchases. Endit