An employee working on a Renault Zoe electric car on the production line at the Renault automobile factory in Flins, west of Paris. Renault, Volkswagen and Ford spurred European car sales to their strongest performance in four years in December, industry data showed yesterday, as the sector’s recovery spread to Mediterranean markets. Registrations in the EU and European Free Trade Association trading bloc jumped 13 per cent from a year earlier to 948,090 vehicles, the fourth straight monthly gain, the Association of European Carmakers (ACEA) said. Still, analysts cautioned that two extra working days in the five biggest markets – Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Spain – accounting for over three-quarters of sales in the region, triggered the massive December boost.