European car sales fell for the sixth straight year in 2013, despite a pickup in registrations in the final months of the year that sparked hope of a broader recovery in the region. The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, known as ACEA, said Thursday that 11.9 million new cars were registered in the European Union last year, a decline of 1.7% compared with the previous year. The performance marks the industry’s worst year since ACEA began collecting EU data in 2003. A moderate recovery of car sales in the second half of the year gathered pace in December, according to the ACEA data, but wasn’t strong enough to pull the industry into positive territory for the year. In December, new car registrations rose 13% to 906,294 vehicles—the strongest rate in the month of December since 2009 but still one of the lowest showings to date, ACEA said. Registrations also grew […]