"The European market keeps surprising us in a pleasant way," Tavares said on the sidelines of a conference in Paris. "We will probably update our forecast in the half-year results."

The group, which is due to publish interim results at the end of July, already raised its forecast last month to 4 percent growth in demand in the European car market this year.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume; Writing by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Greg Mahlich)