The story appears on

Page A13

March 16, 2012

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Business » Auto

Auto buying declines in Europe

EUROPEAN car sales dropped the most in more than a year, led by Renault SA and PSA Peugeot Citroen as consumers shied away from purchases amid a weak economy.

Registrations in February fell 9.2 percent annually to 923,381 million vehicles, the fifth consecutive monthly decline, Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, or ACEA, said yesterday in a statement. The decline was the steepest since a 16 percent drop in October 2010. Two-month sales fell 7.8 percent to 1.93 million vehicles, the association said.

Sales in France, Europe's second-biggest market after Germany, sank 20 percent, while deliveries in Italy, its third-biggest, plunged 19 percent.

Toyota Motor Corp and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG are predicting a contraction of about 5 percent in Europe this year, the fifth straight annual decline, as the sovereign-debt crisis prompts consumers to rein in spending.

"The French manufacturers are struggling because the French economy is weaker than it was a year ago, and Fiat is being hit by the very weak Italian market," said Jonathon Poskitt, head of European sales forecasting at LMC Automotive in Oxford.





 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend