Car sales fall again in November 04/12/2007 00:00

4 December 2007

MADRID - Registrations of new passenger cars and SUVs in Spain took a renewed downturn in November, suggesting the surprise pick-up in October after eight months of falling sales was a one-off.

The carmaker and dealership associations Anfac and Ganvam said Monday sales last month dropped 5.9 percent from a year earlier to 125,199 units. In the 11 months to November, sales dropped 1.9 percent to 1.498 million units.

The drop last month was the third biggest in the year after falls of 7.7 percent and 6.0 percent in September and April respectively.

Sales have been hit by higher borrowing costs in the wake of a series of interest-rate hikes by the European Central Bank. Lower registration fees for more environment-friendly cars due to take effect next year may also have caused consumers to delay purchases.

The falls particularly hit passenger cars, which were down 7.2 percent for the month and 3.1 percent for the year. However, demand from the better-heeled for up-market SUVs remained strong as sales climbed 5.7 percent. The number of units sold in the 11 months was up 11.5 percent at 136,479, already above the record for the whole of last year.

The Anfac's general manager, Luis Valero, said the latest figures confirmed the trend of moderate falls seen this year, with the association's forecast for a drop of 2 percent in sales for the whole of this year to 1.6 million units still intact.

[Copyright EL PAÍS, SL. 2007]

Subject: Spanish news