UPDATE: European Car Sales Drop The Most In 15 Years
15 Januar 2009 - 4:41PM
Dow Jones News
By Steve Goldstein
LONDON (Dow Jones) -- Last year was the worst for European car
sales in 15 years, with 2008 sales falling by 8%, a trade group
said Thursday.
The European Automobile Manufacturers Association, known by its
French acronym ACEA, said new passenger car registrations dropped
by 8% to 14.7 million units.
Car sales to a large extent mirrored the troubles in the broader
economy. In countries where house prices have plunged, car sales
have done even worse, with Irish sales dropping 62% and Spanish
sales tumbling 50%.
The declines weren't as steep in the four largest markets but
were still grim: Germany sales fell 7%, French sales dropped 16%,
Italian sales fell 13% and U.K. sales dropped 21%.
The European Central Bank, which sets interest rates for the
16-nation euro zone, cut interest rates by a half-point on Thursday
in response to the sluggish economy.
In December, car sales plunged 18%, though that wasn't as bad as
the 26% hemorrhaging in November.
U.S. car sales dropped by even more in December, falling by more
than one-third.
The European trade group put the slightly better December
performance down to having two more working days, compared to two
fewer in November.
Virtually all the major manufacturers shared in the pain, though
2008 sales at Nissan Motors (NSANY) rose 9%. Mazda's sales edged a
modest 1% lower.
For the market leader, Volkswagen , sales fell 4%, including a
5.5% drop in December.
PSA Peugeot Citroen saw sales skid 9% for the year and 11% in
December.
The Americans did even worse: Ford Motor (F) sales dropped 8%
for the year and 16% for December, and General Motors (GM) sales
skidded 15% for the year and the month.
Chrysler, which has a dismal 18th place, saw sales fall 23% last
year and 59% in December.
Also having a rough December was Toyota Motor (TM), which saw a
38% drop en route to a 14% sales retreat in 2008.
And 2008 was the good news
While 2008 may have been gloomy for the European auto sector,
analysts at Citigroup said things are only going to get worse.
In a note published Thursday, they said they are anticipating a
15% drop in volumes in 2009. And they say that even though
manufacturers cut European vehicle production by 24% in the fourth
quarter, they still may have to cut inventory levels further.
The big European auto firms will almost all decline to pay
dividends. Operating margins, which probably will fall to 3.9% in
2008 from 6.2% in 2007, will be an ugly 0.2% this year, the
analysts say.
And stock prices aren't discounting the possibility that 2010
also will be negative year, the analysts said.
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