The number of cars bought this year in Western Europe has increased substantially on last year's figure, an increase of 2.9 per cent, Reuters reported this week.

Sales of cars have shown an extra high upturn this month with analysts claiming figures have risen by as much as a 6.9 per cent from last month.

The Brussels car makers association ACEA has reported a marked rise in vehicle registrations: 1,707 million this year compared with 1,597 a year ago.

However, many industry observers have attributed this month's rise to the extra days of Easter.

One auto analyst at Deutsche Bank said: "When you account for the extra business days, sales were pretty flat, and we are not counting on much growth this year."

Continuing drops in the French and German markets, which could spill over to UK figures, were given amongst many reasons why some predict growth may slow down.

Sales dropped substantially last year, due to the war in Iraq and the general economic slowdown.