Vehicle registrations in Western Europe could see a rise of 2.5 to three per cent in 2016 as global sales approach 90 million units, IHS Automotive has predicted.

Industry analysis from the IHS stated that “incremental gains”, rather than “spectacular” results, would be the story in 2016, following a record year in 2015 in which over 2.6 million cars registered in the UK with an overall growth in registrations of 6.3%.

The IHS warned that some markets in Europe had peaked, however, with “some payback” expected in Spain, in particular, as eight consecutive scrapping incentives comes to an end.

Henner Lehne, senior director, global light vehicle forecasting at IHS Automotive, said: “Despite ongoing political and partial economic troubles in the European Union, West Europe, together with the U.S., will build the fundamentals for solid global demand growth in 2016.”

The IHS said that mature markets had flourished in 2016, but growth had slowed in other parts of the world, resulting in an overall rise expected to be around 1.5%.