AUTOSHOW-FACTBOX-Auto executives' market perspectives

March 3 (Reuters) - The annual Geneva Motor Show got
underway on Tuesday against a backdrop of a global automobile
sector crisis as the financial crisis saps consumer confidence
and demand for new cars plunges.
Below are comments from auto executives at the show on
their perspectives for key markets and the effectiveness of
government measures designed to jump-start sales, as they
attempt to assess how much further the car market deteriorates
before it reaches a low point.

NISSAN MOTOR CO <7201.T>
Executive Vice President Carlos Tavares, assigned last
month to head the Americas region, traditionally Nissan's
biggest source of profits, said until demand returned to normal
levels, the main task would be slashing costs and controlling
inventories.
"We would like to see the bottom (of the U.S. market), but
so far it's not visible yet ... Once we see three to four
months of stabilisation we could say we have hit bottom."
[nL3712838]

FIAT
Fiat Auto Chief Executive Lorenzo Sistino said he expected
March sales in Italy to be "in line or slightly better than
last year," thanks to incentives.
[nMAT009236]

RENAULT Renault Chief Operating Officer
Patrick Pelata said the group is already feeling the benefits
of a trade-in incentive introduced by the German government. In
Germany, the group is seeing "enormous growth - the problem is
delivering Clios, Twingos, Sanderos and Meganes."
[nL3339088]

CITROEN
Citroen's head of international operations, Jean-Louis
Chamla, said the carmaker -- part of French group PSA Peugeot
Citroen -- saw a 2009 market of around 2 million vehicles in
Russia, where sales have fallen sharply. "I don't think it's
finished -- the market could be even worse than we're saying
today."
Chamla said he expected the Chinese market to grow by
around 5 percent in 2009.
[nL3150989]

MAZDA MOTOR CORP <7261.T>
Mazda Motor Europe Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Guyton
said it aimed to defend its share of a sinking European market
and warned the second half of 2009 would probably be tougher
than the first.
"As long as consumers have as much uncertainty about jobs
and prices as they do now, they are not going to be buying
cars."
[nT71077]

TOYOTA MOTOR CORP <7203.T>
Toyota Motor Europe Executive Vice President Thierry
Dombreval said the unit wanted to boost its European market
share to 6 percent in 2009 from 5.3 percent last year.
Dombreval said he expected sales to fall by about one-quarter
in Western Europe and as much as 40 percent elsewhere such as
Russia.
"We have more bad news coming (in the second half of
2009)." [nT322728]
(Reporting by Gilles Castonguay, Chang-Ran Kim, Matthias
Blamont, Helen Massy-Beresford; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
((helen.beresford@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 56 83;
Reuters Messaging:
helen.beresford.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

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