LEAD: European car sales slump 3.5 per cent amid debt crisis woes

Dec 16, 2011, 9:08 GMT

Berlin - European car sales slumped 3.5 per cent in November as the region's debt crisis took hold, data released Friday showed.

The Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) said the drop followed steep falls in major car markets across the European Union.

However, Germany, which is Europe's biggest car market, bucked the trend to post a 2.6-per-cent gain in November car registrations. German sales in the 11 months to the end of January raced ahead by 9.1 per cent, the ACEA said.

But dragging down the total European number were car markets at the centre of the 17-member eurozone's debt crisis, which posted big falls last month including a 6.4-per-cent decline in Spain and a 9.2-per-cent drop in Italy.

The falls were even more dramatic in Ireland and Portugal, which both recorded a hefty 48.8-per-cent drop. Remarkably, Greece bounced back with a 16.5-per-cent rise.

All nations have launched a tough round of budget austerity aimed at cleaning up their state finances. France recorded a 7.7-per-cent decline.

This was reflected in the figures for national carmakers European sales with France's PSA Peugeot-Citroen group reporting a 13.7-per-cent drop in registrations and Italy's recording a 12.2-per-cent fall.

In contrast, Europe's biggest auto manufacturer Volkswagen reported a 5.7-per-cent jump in car registrations in November as a result helping the German-based company with its ambitions to overtake Japan's Toyota Group as the world's number one carmaker.

Leading the company's sales was 13.1-per-cent gain in registrations for its flagship Volkswagen brand.

Car sales in Britain, where the government has also launched a tough round of budget cuts, posted a 4.2-per-cent fall.

The ACEA said total EU car registrations in the period from January to November car registrations came in at 12.16 million, which represented a decline of 1.4 per cent compared with the same period in 2010.

Compared with their European counterparts, several Asian carmakers also performed well during November with Toyota posting a 4.1-per-cent increase and South Korea's KIA reporting a 3.2 per cent gain in EU car registrations.

Meanwhile, European countries that are not the grip of the region's debt crisis reported solid November sales. This included car markets in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Denmark as well the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.