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European car sales fall again in March | European car sales fall again in March |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Car sales across Europe were 10.3% lower in March from a year earlier, the 18th consecutive month of falls. | |
The figures, from the Association of European Carmakers (Acea) showed most carmakers saw sales drop, with Peugeot Citroen and Toyota suffering the most. | The figures, from the Association of European Carmakers (Acea) showed most carmakers saw sales drop, with Peugeot Citroen and Toyota suffering the most. |
Continuing economic stagnation across Europe has depressed sales for almost six years. | Continuing economic stagnation across Europe has depressed sales for almost six years. |
The UK was the only country in Europe where sales rose, with registrations up by 5.9%. | |
Germany, the best performing economy in the eurozone, saw the biggest fall in sales of 17.1%, with France just behind with a drop of 16.2%. | |
The falls came despite hefty incentives on offer to buyers of new cars. | |
The Reuters news agency said that average retail sales incentives in the top five markets - Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain - had risen 13% to almost 2,400 euros (£2,000; $3,200) per vehicle. | |
Hybrid sales | |
Last month, 1.31 million cars were registered in Europe. | |
Peugeot and Toyota were the worst affected manufacturers, with sales falling more than 16% from a year earlier, Volkswagen also suffered a sharp drop, with sales down 15% and the US carmaker General Motors saw sales fall by 12.8%. | |
Peugeot has forecast a sales fall of up to 5% this year, although since that guidance was given the chief executive has said that the outlook has worsened. | Peugeot has forecast a sales fall of up to 5% this year, although since that guidance was given the chief executive has said that the outlook has worsened. |
Jaguar was the only carmaker to see serious gains, with sales up by 21%. Mercedes also saw sales rise. although only by 0.8%. | |
In a separate announcement, Toyota, which was a pioneer of petrol-electric hybrid vehicles with its Prius model in 1997, said sales of these and its other hybrid models had now passed five million. | |
Toyota said it had sold a total 5.125 million hybrid vehicles by the end of March, and they now accounted for 14% of its global sales. |