European market stabilising after years of crisis. For the last two quarters, there have been increasing signs of improvement in the automotive sector. Following a slight slump in 2013, to 11 million cars registered (more than 13 million if utility vehicles are included), the market is taking off again. In January 2014, European registrations rose by 5.5% to 935,000 units sold. The trend is expected to be consolidated in February even though sales dropped by 1.4% that month in France, one of the most fragile markets. The German market, the largest in Europe, on the other hand, is still expected to grow and the three other major European markets are likely to follow suit: the United Kingdom has experienced growth since late 2012 whilst Spain and, to a lesser extent, Italy, have seen buyers return to the market since 2013, following five years of crisis. The financial results of European car-builders in 2013 also show that the situation is brightening. General Motors, which owns Germany's Opel, has more than halved its losses in Europe, down to €580 million, compared to €1.4 billion in 2012. The American Ford has reduced its losses by €100 million, to €1.15 billion. Even Fiat-Chrysler has managed to bring its losses down by €200 million, to €520 million. PSA has limited its operational losses to €1 billion, three times less than in 2012, partly as a result of its new models sold in Europe. Even so, the European market is not expected to bounce back entirely in 2014, with experts anticipating only modest growth of between 2% and 5%. At this rate, the European market is not yet ready to return to its 2007 levels, when it sold more than 18 million vehicles (including 16 million private cars). As a result, production over-capacity in Europe is still expected to weigh down the margins and profits of the European manufacturers, a situation which their American counterparts have not experienced - they were able to return to significant profit levels thanks to drastic but effective production restructuring measures. Employment in the automotive sector has also suffered from the crisis. According to the European Automotive Manufacturers' Association (known by its French acronym, ACEA), car production (car-builders and equipment manufacturers) shed 60,000 jobs in Europe between 2008 and 2010, from 3.04 million to 2.98 million. Since then, staffing levels have fallen still further. For equipment manufacturers alone, staff numbers fell from 810,000 to 750,000, or 60,000 jobs lost, between 2010 and 2012, according to the consultancy firm Roland Berger. Out of the four largest European markets between 2007 and 2012, the number of jobs in automotive production remained stable only in Germany. In France, figures fell from 275,000 to 215,000 and in Italy, from 193,000 to 166,000. The United Kingdom has lost 100,000 jobs in the sector in five years. However, the experts qualify these statistics by pointing out that many production units have been transferred to Eastern Europe. (IL)