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EU car sales dropped yet again in January by 7.1% compared to a year ago, a troubling trend since car sales have declined for four straight years in the moribund European Union. The latest sales data from ACEA, the trade group of EU automakers, confirm what individual car company financial results have been indicating – the European economy continues to contract, and at rates greater than automakers anticipated as recently as last quarter or the quarter before that.

In total, 968,769 new registrations were recorded in the 26-nation EU region during January, which had on average one more working day than January 2011. Particularly hard hit were France (-20.7% for the second largest market) and Italy (-16.9% for the third largest market), with large negative consequences at PSA Group (-14.9%), Renault Group (-25.2%) and Fiat Group (-16.2 %.)

Germany (-0.4% for the largest EU market) and the United Kingdom (0% or flat for the fourth largest market) remained stable, with beneficial results for the biggest automaker in Europe, VW Group with its commanding 24% market share. Continue reading →