The survey found that vehicle leasing increased by 8.0% last year, with strong results in the passenger car segment, particularly in the Mediterranean (34.2%) and the Nordic (28.4%) clusters, France (15.7%) and the UK (9.2%).

New leasing volumes for commercial vehicles also increased, however at a slower pace compared to passenger cars (+ 2.8%).

The report also found that overall new leasing business in Europe increased by 4.6% in 2010 to reach €224 billion. However, some European leasing markets experienced a downturn in the equipment segment (excluding vehicles), which decreased by 4.4% overall.

Leaseurope's chairman, Jukka Salonen, said: 'The European leasing industry has survived the fierce recession and is bouncing back. The tough times we experienced have taught us to focus on providing innovative, value-added solutions to our clients. While large investments are still subdued, recovery has taken firmly hold in the small ticket sectors, where businesses have begun investing again, such as cars and ICT & business equipment. Clearly, our industry is playing an important role in contributing to the ongoing economic recovery across Europe; not least by continuing to support the investment needs of SMEs.'

Leaseurope also says that the momentum of recovery has continued into 2011.

Piero Biagi, chair of Leaseurope's Statistics & Marketing Committee, said: 'The latest European Commission economic forecast indicates that total investment in the EU should rebound in 2011 by 2.5%. This is expected to be driven by strong levels of investment in equipment (+6.7%), thus paving the way for further improvement in the leasing market.'