West European car sales rose 8% in April, although the sales momentum has slowed, auto industry data provided by LMC Automotive showed on Friday. Monthly car sales rose to 1.21 million vehicles, according to LMC Automotive estimates, which are based on national registration data and LMC’s own forecasts. “Taking account of at least one extra selling day in many markets, the selling rate dropped some way from the lofty high of the previous month,” LMC Automotive analyst, Emiliano Lewis, said. “The latest result suggests that March benefited from a quarter-end sales push with some resulting negative impact on April.” Sales in Spain and Italy rose 21% and 12%, respectively, LMC data showed. Sales in Germany were up 8.4%, while sales in the UK climbed 2%. In France, registrations rose 6.5%. LMC said its estimates project seasonally adjusted new registrations in Western Europe would reach 13.1 million this year, up 5.3% from a year earlier.
