New-car registrations in Spain rose 26 percent in September to 57,010, the market’s 13th consecutive month of growth, car manufacturers’ association Anfac said today.

That followed a rise of 14 percent in August, helped by continued support from a government car-buying subsidy program.

Under the scheme, car owners who scrap their old car and buy a new one get a subsidy of  €2,000, half from the government and half from the carmaker. In June, the government extended the subsidy program for the sixth time with a further injection of  €175 million ($238 million).

New-car sales in the first nine months rose to 640,673 cars, Anfac said, a rise of 17 percent.

September French car sales rise 6%; PSA leads

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen led a 6 percent gain in French car sales last month, boosted by an extra selling day, the CCFA industry association said today.

Registrations advanced to 151,101 cars in September from 142,166 a year earlier, CCFA said. Once adjusted for the number of sales days, the gain would have been a more modest 1.5 percent, the association said.

PSA’s sales rose 17 percent last month, while rival domestic carmaker Renault’s registrations were up 5 percent. Volkswagen, Europe’s market leader, posted a 3.5 percent decline in French sales.

Delivery van registrations also rose 14 percent in September, the CCFA said, for an 8 percent gain in overall light vehicle sales for the month.

France is lagging a fragile recovery in Europe as a whole, where car sales in the EU and EFTA markets were up 6 percent in the first eight months to 8.63 million, according to data from the industry organization ACEA.

French registrations for the year so far increased 2 percent, the CCFA said.

Italy car sales rise 3% in September

New-car registrations in Italy rose 3 percent in September from the same month a year ago to 110,436 vehicles, according to official data published by Italy’s transport ministry.

Italy’s top-selling brand, Fiat, had a market share of 27.69 percent in September, compared with 27.59 percent in August, according to calculations made by Reuters.

For the remainder of the year, automakers expect slight growth to continue in the market. The full year is projected at about 1.35 million units, marginally better than the 1.3 million units sold last year, which was the lowest level since 1978.