November World Auto Sales Results Shows Crisis Could Be Worsening

PARIS December 1, 2008; Helen Massy-Beresford writing for Reuters reported that the global automotive industry faced a fresh wave of bad news Monday, as data showed drops in Swedish, Japanese and South Korean November car sales, with figures for France, Spain and Italy due out later in the day. Automakers are cutting production as well as seeking help from governments to survive as they battle against the effects of the financial crisis and worsening economic climate on consumer confidence.

Registrations of new cars in Sweden, home to carmakers Volvo and Saab, fell 36 percent to 17,616 units in November, according to data from auto industry body Bil Sweden, the largest monthly fall since 1993.

"The financial crisis and the weaker economy is now hitting the auto market with full force," Bil Sweden Chief Executive Bertil Molden said in a statement.

A report in the Financial Times Monday said U.S. carmakers General Motors and Ford had approached the Swedish government about aid for, respectively, Saab and Volvo, ahead of the possible sale of the units.

France, Italy and Spain are due to release November data later in the day. European car sales are already down 5.4 percent in the first 10 months of the year, the latest data available from industry association ACEA.

European car manufacturers including France's PSA-Peugeot Citroen and Renault have announced production cuts and extended site closures in the fourth quarter as they struggle to cut stocks of unsold vehicles by the year-end.

In South Korea, combined sales of South Korean automakers, including Hyundai Motor Co, fell 8.6 percent in November.

"The fourth quarter is likely to be pretty doomed for all car makers. However, the problem is the next year and no one is free from the impact of weaker demand and the credit crisis," said Cho Soo-hong, an auto analyst at Hyundai Securities.

Earlier, data showed Japan's overall car sales in November fell 18.2 percent from a year ago.

Hyundai and South Korea's four other carmakers -- Kia Motors Corp., GM Daewoo, Renault Samsung and Ssangyong Motor -- sold 445,111 units in November, compared to 486,762 a year ago and 506,597 in the previous month.

Reporting for Reuters by Helen Massy-Beresford, Cheon Jong-woo, Kim Jung-hyun, Mayumi Negishi and Niklas Pollard; editing by Simon Jessop