Car manufacturer Nissan has reported a 17 per cent increase in year-on-year sales in Europe this January.

The firm has shifted almost 43,000 vehicles on the continent and has seen its market share climb by a further 3.2 per cent, continuing its average monthly growth of around three per cent.

Despite the substantial increase in sales, the firm said volumes were still 25 per cent down on 2005 levels – however, sales were in line with the company’s projections.

Vice-president of sales operations at Nissan Europe Bernard Loire said: "Our market share of 3.2 per cent is the highest we have achieved since January 2009; this was a great result from all our teams in Europe."

"The outlook for 2010 is still uncertain in many markets but several major economies are coming out of recession and forecasting some growth this year, resulting in continuing strong demand for models such as Qashqai," he added.

Nissan’s Qashqai has proved massively popular and the firm is set to create 400 jobs at its Sunderland plant to cope with the high demand.

Please share your thoughts

You must be logged in to post a comment.