Another sign of a faltering global economy, new car sales for this summer in Western Europe have dropped off dramatically. Overall sales in Western Europe were down to their lowest levels in more than a decade, especially in the biggest markets of Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, and they hardly provide comfort for struggling Detroit-based automakers looking for strength abroad to offset weakness at home.
The only market in which sales forecasters at Global Insight saw improvement was Portugal. Sales in Britain were down 19 percent, Italian sales were down 26 percent and Spanish sales were down an astounding 41 percent, reports The Detroit News.
The overall European market is estimated to sell between 14 and 14.1 million vehicles this year, down from 14.8 million last year and making the market about the same size as the U.S. new car market. Overall European sales are buoyed by a strong but still small Eastern European market.
