Ford Motor Co. (F) said Wednesday its sales in western Europe fell 19.7% in December, highlighting how overseas business is providing less of a prop for loss-making U.S. auto makers.

The decline was less than the 32% drop Ford suffered in North America last month, but took its full-year decline to 7.4% in its core 19 European markets, just beating the industry average of 7.6%.

Ford, which has so far avoided the need to tap federal funds in the U.S. to stay afloat, has relied on its profitable European unit to help offset losses at home.

The company is, alongside its rivals, seeking aid in Europe. It has also admitted it could still need to seek U.S. government assistance if weak global market conditions become materially worse.

"If they aren't able to diversify their revenue in Europe, they will have to rely on the emerging markets such as Russia and Chine, which are also slowing," said Rebecca Lindland, analyst at IHS Global.

"They will also have to be very careful what they do in those emerging markets. One bad move, like a product introduction problem, could prove costly."

Ford of Europe reported a pretax profit of $1.4 billion for the first nine months of 2008 while Ford North America reported a pretax loss of $4.38 billion.

The company sold 1.4 million cars and light trucks in the core 19 European markets last year, less than the 2.04 million at rival General Motors Corp. (GM), whose own business was down 6.5% in 2008.

Ford increased its market share in 15 of the markets during the year, helped by its new Fiesta subcompact. Sales rose in Germany and France but dropped in the U.K. and Italy.

The company has already cut staff and production on both sides of the Atlantic and may seek to sell of its Sweden-based Volvo Cars brand.

A sale of Volvo would completely dismantle Ford's Premium Auto Group, following the disposal of Aston Martin and the twin sales of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands to India's Tata Motors Ltd. (TTM).

Ford shares were down 22 cents, or 8.9%, at $2.27 in recent trading.

-By Jeff Bennett, Dow Jones Newswires; 248-204-5542; jeff.bennett@dowjones.com

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