Europe Car Sales Heading for 20-Year Low on German Slide
European car sales are sliding to a 20-year low after German concerns over the debt crisis sent demand plunging last month in the regions biggest economy and removed the main buffer protecting automakers.
Registrations in March fell 10 percent to 1.35 million vehicles, the 18th consecutive decline, with Germanys auto market plunging 17 percent, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA, said today. First-quarter deliveries in the region dropped 9.7 percent to a record-low 3.1 million cars.
Volkswagen AG (VOW3), Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) and Daimler AG (DAI), which last year shrugged off Europes decline, are forecasting unchanged 2013 earnings as investor and consumer confidence fall in their home country. A recession stemming from the debt crisis, which reared back up last month with a rescue for Cyprus, has led to 12 percent unemployment in the 17 countries sharing the euro, the highest since records began in 1995.
The car boom in Germany has come to an end, said Hans- Peter Wodniok, an analyst at Fairesearch GmbH & Co. People have stopped buying cars as consumers are much less confident of the future, especially after the latest decision on Cyprus.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-17/europe-car-sales-plunge-10-as-germany-s-decline-hurts-vw.html