European car sales slumped 27% in November
Volkswagen AG, Europe?s biggest carmaker, posted a 17 percent drop in November. Adam Berry/Bloomberg
Tuesday December 16 2008
European car sales plunged 26 percent in November, the biggest monthly drop since 1999, as the economic recession and tighter credit held back demand for new vehicles.
Registrations dropped to 932,537 vehicles last month from 1.26 million a year earlier, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said today in a statement. Sales for the first 11 months fell 7.1 percent to 13.8 million vehicles, accelerating from a 5.4 percent decline in the 10 months through October.
European business and consumer confidence fell to a 15-year low in November as the world’s advanced economies suffered their first simultaneous recession in more than 60 years. Slumping car markets and prospects of limits on carbon-dioxide emissions have prompted European automakers to call for €40 billion in low-interest loans.
The drop in deliveries, the seventh consecutive monthly decline, was led by the U.K., where registrations plunged 37 percent, and Spain, which posted a 50 percent drop. All western European states except Finland posted a decline, with the Italian market contracting by 30 percent and Germany declining 18 percent.
The European Union has proposed €200 billion of measures to try to bolster growth, while no region-wide plan for carmakers has yet emerged. France has pledged a €1,000 rebate for drivers who trade in an old car for a new one, and €1 billion of low-interest loans to automakers’ financing units. Germany plans to rework car-tax breaks to spur sales.
Luxury
General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest carmakers, and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the biggest maker of luxury cars, led the decline in Europe.
GM’s European sales slipped 38 percent to 76,383 vehicles, with the Saab brand falling 46 percent. The Detroit-based carmaker may run short of cash by the end of the year unless the market improves or it raises more capital, it said Nov. 7.
European registrations by Toyota slumped 34 percent to 43,541 cars. Deliveries of its Lexus brand fell 44 percent. PSA Peugeot Citroen’s sales fell 27 percent to 114,374, while sales by Munich-based BMW fell 31 percent, led by a 41 percent drop at its Mini brand.
Volkswagen AG, Europe’s biggest carmaker, posted a 17 percent drop in November, with its Audi luxury brand bucking the trend with a 0.1 percent increase in deliveries.
Industrywide car sales in western Europe, including the 15 countries that were members of the EU before May 2004 plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, slid 26 percent in November to 854,698 vehicles.
Deliveries in the 10 eastern European nations that have joined the EU since 2004 declined 23 percent to 77,839 units.
U.S. President George W. Bush is considering using money from the $700 billion bailout fund to keep General Motors and Chrysler LLC out of bankruptcy, after the Senate failed to reach a compromise on $14 billion in aid. (Bloomberg)
- Marco Bertacche
