Toyota, VW sales drop in Europe
Toyota Motor Corp, PSA Peugeot Citroen and Volkswagen AG led the biggest drop in European car sales in more than four years as economic concerns held back buying and an early Easter cut the number of selling days.
New registrations in March fell 9.5 percent to 1.65 million cars from 1.83 million a year earlier, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers Association said in a statement yesterday. First-quarter deliveries declined 1.7 percent to 4.15 million. Sales fell 17 percent last month at Toyota, 13 percent at Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen and 14 percent at Peugeot.
European retail sales fell in March and consumer confidence dropped across the region as inflation, higher credit costs and declining house prices sapped spending. The Easter holiday also led to two fewer selling days. The weekend fell in April in 2007. The drop in car deliveries was the biggest since the association began compiling figures for all of Europe in January 2004.
"What is most shocking is that the percentage sales declines for all manufacturers are deep into the teens," said Stephen Pope, chief global strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in London.
"This reinforces my negative stance on auto companies. Good companies. Good products. Just an empty marketplace bereft of customers."
Group European sales at Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota, the world's second-biggest carmaker, fell to 92,380 vehicles, with registrations dropping 16 percent to 88,051 at the namesake brand and 22 percent to 4,329 at the Lexus luxury division.
Agencies
(China Daily 04/16/2008 page16)
