Ford increased European car sales by 9.2 per cent in January, the eighth straight monthly gain, benefiting from strong demand in the region’s top markets Germany and the UK.

Deliveries in the so-called Euro-20 markets, including all major countries plus the Baltic states, increased to 80,800 autos from 74,000 a year earlier, Ford Europe said.

The 9.2 per cent gain, powered by demand for models such as the Kuga SUV and the Fiesta compact, is about twice the size of overall market growth in that region, Ford said.

Ford’s loss-making European division is counting on new models and a stabilising market to increase sales this year, after shrinking demand inflicted a 2.1 per cent drop in 2013 deliveries.

“We’ve launched 11 new vehicles over the past 15 months, and we’ll launch more than 10 additional new vehicles in 2014 alone,” Ford Europe sales chief Roelant de Waard said.

The US carmaker’s sales in Germany surged 38 per cent to 16,800 vehicles while the UK, Ford’s biggest market in the region, posted an 11 per cent gain to 26,800.

Ford has closed two UK production sites and will shutter a major assembly plant in Genk, Belgium, this year, eliminating about 6,200 jobs in total.

The company’s fourth-quarter 2013 European loss of $571 million, though smaller than in the previous year, was still wider than analysts had expected.