Registrations dropped to 932,537 vehicles last month from 1.26 million a year earlier, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers' Association said yesterday in a statement. Sales for the first 11 months fell 7.1 percent to 13.8 million vehicles, accelerating from a 5.4 percent decline in the 10 months through October.

European business and consumer confidence fell to a 15-year low in November as the world's advanced economies suffered their first simultaneous recession in more than 60 years. Slumping car markets and prospects of limits on carbon-dioxide emissions have prompted European automakers to call for 40 billion euros in low-interest loans.

The drop in deliveries, the seventh consecutive monthly decline, was led by the UK, where registrations plunged 37 percent, and Spain, which posted a 50 percent drop. All western European states except Finland posted a decline, with the Italian market contracting by 30 percent and Germany declining 18 percent.

The European Union has proposed 200 billion euros of measures to try to bolster growth, while no region-wide plan for carmakers has yet emerged. France has pledged a 1,000-euro rebate for drivers who trade in an old car for a new one, and 1 billion euros of low-interest loans to automakers' financing units.