Automotive market up in 2014. - In 2014, the European automotive market recorded its first year of growth since 2007, with sales up nearly 5.7% (more than 2.5 million new registrations), the European Automobile Manufacturers Association has announced. However, sales remain well below pre-crisis levels (14.8 million in 2007). On the main European markets, Spain saw the steepest growth of the year (+18.1%), followed by the United Kingdom (+9.3%), Italy (+4.2%) and Germany (+2.9%). France remains stable at 0.3%. On the other European markets, the increases were as follows, in descending order: +34.8% for Portugal, +29.6% for Ireland, +22.3% for Croatia, +21.6% for Romania, +21.3% for Greece, +20.2% for Hungary, +19.3% for Lithuania, +17.5% for Cyprus, +17.1% for Latvia, +16.7% for the Czech Republic, +12.9% for Poland, +12.7% for Sweden, +9.5% for Slovakia, +7% for Estonia, +6.8% for Luxembourg, +5.2% for Bulgaria, +4.8% for Slovenia, +3.8% for Denmark and +2.7% for Finland. Austria is the only member state of the EU which saw a fall in registrations, of -4.9%, whilst Belgium remains stable at +0.6%. Of the major car makes, Renault came out on top with a 13.3% increase in registrations over a year. VW also made good progress, at +7.2%. (IL)