New car sales in Europe grew in December at their fastest pace in four years as the region's auto industry recovered from a sharp downturn, dpa cited an industry association as saying Thursday. Registrations in the European Union jumped 13.3 per cent in comparison to December 2012 to 906,294, thanks to a pick-up in sales in the region's biggest markets, such as Germany, Britain and Italy, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers Association said.  But for the full year, sales slumped 1.7 per cent, it said.