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European Nov car sales down 25.8 pct

European governments are rushing to support car manufacturers struggling to cope with falling sales, and difficulties in shifting their stocks of unsold vehicles, as the credit crunch hits consumer confidence.

ACEA said the last time registrations fell so notably was in 1999 and in 1993, before EU enlargement, when the data only covered the 15 EU member states plus the European Free Trade Association countries.

November’s data referred to the 27 EU member states, plus the EFTA countries and excluded Malta and Cyprus, ACEA said.

In Western Europe, registrations were down 26 percent to a total of 854,698 new vehicles in November. ACEA said around a million fewer cars were registered in Western Europe in the period from January to November.

In November, Ireland was worst hit, with a 55.9 percent fall, while Spain’s sales fell 49.6 percent, the UK 36.8 percent and Italy 29.5 percent.

Sales in Germany were down 17.7 percent - the steepest fall since December 2007. France’s sales dropped 14.1 percent.

Markets in the new EU member states saw a 22.6 percent drop in November, and a 0.3 percent increase in the year to date, as the regions had until recently showed more resilience, thanks to the large numbers of first time car buyers, ACEA said.

Among the major European manufacturers, Germany’s Volkswagen VOWG.DE recorded a 17.4 percent drop in European sales in November, France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen PEUP.PA saw a 26.9 percent fall, Renault RENA.PA 21.8 percent and Fiat FIA.MI 23.8 percent.