November car sales slide shows auto crisis worsening

By Gilles Castonguay

MILAN (Reuters) - Car makers reported tumbling sales across Asia and Europe on Monday as the recession drove buyers from showrooms and drew a warning of more gloom for next year.

"I don't see it (2009) being very good," Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne told reporters at a Fiat plant in Italy. "It's a market that we continue to see being very, very weak. The European market is shrinking in the major countries."

Spanish car sales nearly halved, the biggest fall in nearly 16 years and the seventh straight month of decline, as credit restrictions and soaring unemployment took their toll.

Spain's government last week budgeted 800 million euros (680.8 million pounds) for its struggling car industry amid fears the sector could lose 50,000 jobs.

In France, headline sales at PSA (PEUP.PA) fell more than 17 percent in November with the Peugeot brand slumping nearly 20 percent and Citroen off 14 percent. Overall French new car registrations were down 14 percent year-on-year and Belgian new cars sales fell 16.42 percent.

New car sales in Italy plunged 29.46 percent. Fiat's own sales fell by nearly the same rate at 28.6 percent.

Japan's overall car sales in November slid 18.2 percent from a year ago, helping to push down platinum prices by 7 percent. Sales have fallen so much this year that car makers are cutting back on production, extending temporary plant closures and seeking help from governments to ride out the savage cutback in consumer spending.

The European Commission has pledged to help the car industry and included it in a 200 billion euro economic stimulus package.