PARIS — European new car sales contracted in March for an 18th consecutive month, led by declines in Germany and France, industry data showed on Wednesday.
New vehicle registrations in the European Union fell 10.2 percent from a year ago, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association reported from Brussels, slipping to 1.3 million vehicles from about 1.5 million.
Over the first three months of the year, sales in the 27-nation bloc totaled slightly fewer than three million units, 9.8 percent below the level of a year ago, making the worst start to a year since the association began collecting the data in 1990, when only 15 nations’ sales were considered.
Quynh-Nhu Huynh, statistical director for the association, said that it had predicted a 5 percent decline in 2013 sales from the 12 million units sold in 2012, but that the forecast might have to be revisited soon because of the poor start.
Economic stagnation continues to depress demand in the European Union long after auto sales in the United States have rebounded and while emerging markets have continued to register growth. Across Europe, more than 26 million men and women are unemployed, according to official data, and the overall economy is expected to contract in 2013 for a second straight year.
The car industry directly accounts for more than two million jobs in Europe, including some of the best-paid manufacturing jobs, and another 10 million “indirect” jobs, according to the association. But many of the Continent’s ailing carmakers are trying to reorganize, cut their work forces and, in some cases, close plants, medicine that may make the economy sicker in the short term.
Peter Fuss, who follows the market at the Ernst Young Global Automotive Center, predicted that 2013 European car sales would decline by as much as 7 percent from 2012. But carmakers will have to continue discounting prices even to hold the decline to that level, Mr. Fuss said, putting further pressure on profits.
The course of the German and British economies will help to determine the industry’s fortunes, he said. “We expect the French, Italian and Spanish markets to continue their decline over the rest of the year in the absence of any major government intervention to encourage vehicle buying or replacement,” he said.
The data released on Wednesday showed that sales in Germany, the largest economy in the European Union, fell 17.1 percent. Economic sentiment among Germans declined sharply in the last month, according to a report on Tuesday from the ZEW research institute.
In France, hobbled by a weak economy and 10.8 percent unemployment, sales fell 16.2 percent.
The only expansion among major markets was a 4.9 percent increase in Britain, which is outside the euro zone.
Sales for Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest automaker, slid 9 percent, with the biggest decline at its namesake brand. Sales at PSA Peugeot Citroën, No. 2 in Europe, plunged 16 percent. Ford Motor’s sales slid 15.8 percent, while General Motors’ tumbled 12.6 percent.
The data confirmed that the high-end market, which had held up even as the mass market withered, has also begun to lose steam.
Sales at Daimler, which warned last week that its 2013 profit forecast was beginning to look shaky, fell 1.2 percent, while its rival, BMW, posted a 4.7 percent drop in sales.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/business/global/european-auto-market-slump-continues.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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