WORLD> Europe
Car giants battle for market share at Geneva show
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-04 11:12

Car sales worldwide have been tumbling as the global credit crunch pushes the global economy into recession after years of good times.

A Subaru Legacy Concept car is displayed during the first media day of the 79th Geneva Car Show at the Palexpo in Geneva March 3, 2009.[Agencies] 

In Japan, vehicle sales plummeted 32.4 percent in February from a year earlier, the steepest decline for the month since 1974.

Ford said Tuesday its February figures showed a slump of 48 percent while Toyota's US sales plunged more than 37 percent in the month.

Toyota Motor's Vice President for Europe, Thierry Dombreval, said the European market would fall by about 30 percent in 2009 to some 15 million units.

The downturn is set to continue well into next year, if not beyond, executives said.

"We're preparing for a crisis of two, three years and to be stable financially even if the crisis remains at its current, abominable level for two or three years," said Renault chief operating officer Patrick Pelata.

Opel and Toyota pointed to some temporary respite in Germany.

German new car sales jumped 22 percent in February on the back of a government trade-in scheme to encourage buyers but the good news was tempered by a continued slump, at 51 percent, in exports.