European cars: sputtering sales - FT.com On the first score, there was a 1.7 per cent increase, year on year, in new passenger car registrations in the EU last month. If that sounds a bit underwhelming, don't be so sniffy. This is the first time that the year-on-year monthly figure has actually risen since September 2011. Sadly, anyone hoping to conclude that Europe's deeply depressed automobile market has finally revved up, also needs to consider the bad news. There were, on average, two extra working days in April this year compared with 2012. In itself, this would account for the increase, according to the automakers" trade association. Also, in absolute terms, only 1.04m new car registrations occurred last month, the third lowest level for any April on record. That leaves EU car registrations for the first four months down 7 per cent. So not exactly a sign of new spark plugs, more one of an engine struggling to splutter into life. Even so, the data does complement anecdotal evidence that a sector trough has been reached. This can be put down to stabilising economic conditions which, in turn, may be encouraging some owners to replace older clunkers. Deutsche Bank puts the region's usual replacement demand at about 14m units annually. Sales have been below that since 2008 and barely topped 12m units in 2012. Also reinforcing the sense of a trough is the fact that April's uptick was well-spread. Germany, Spain and the UK all saw year-on-year growth last month. Even in France, falls were much diminished. Of Europe's five big markets, only Italy stayed stubbornly stalled. Investors should note this detail. Peugeot-Citroën and Renault have forecast a 5 per cent decline in European demand this year and the latest numbers add credibility to those estimates. That makes the big overhaul at Peugeot, with two-thirds of unit sales in the region, look less likely to go off track. Sadly, though, Fiat and Peugeot still reported falls of 10 per cent year on year in April - unlike the positive data from Renault and VW. Of the volume carmakers, Fiat's shares were weakest on Friday, off 1 per cent. The others" all rose. No one should expect a smooth trip. Europe's production capacity cuts have been smaller than the US's. Peugeot's plant utilisation rate was less than 70 per cent in the first quarter. Inventories are coming down, which is good, but any road back will be long.