Total car sales in July reached 20,291 units in Portugal, an increase of 18.3 per cent compared with the same period in 2009.
The main factor behind the increase, according to Portugal’s Automobile Association (ACAP), which released the data, is the renewal of car fleets, particularly car rental companies, and the fact that sales in 2009 were the lowest for 22 years.
Renault is top of the passenger car sales list, followed by Volkswagen and Peugeot.
In the first seven months of the year, passenger car sales in Portugal reached 135,552 units, an increase of 50.2 per cent over the same period in 2009.
The market experienced growth of 14.6 per cent over the same month in 2009 for commercial vehicles, which corresponded to 3,615 vehicles sold.
Between January and July, the growth was 23.1 per cent, which corresponds to a total of 25,540 units sold in Portugal.
Meanwhile, for heavy vehicles the trend was again negative, with 355 vehicles sold in July, a fall of 16.9 per cent over last year.
From the beginning of the year to the end of July, 1,982 heavy vehicles were sold, down 20.1 per cent compared with 2009.
