Spanish car sales fall 50 pct, worst since 1993
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 @ 4:11 PM
Spanish car sales fell 49.6 percent in November, marking the biggest fall in nearly 16 years as Spaniards slashed spending amid credit restrictions and soaring unemployment, industry data showed on Monday.
November sales fell to 63,068 units from 125,206 a year earlier, marking the seventh straight month of decline.
It was the biggest monthly fall since January 1993 when sales fell 51.4 percent during Spain's last recession.
'The persistence of severe economic and financial weakness continues to erode domestic demand,' ANFAC said in a statement.
Spain's government last week budgeted 800 million euros ($1.04 billion) towards its struggling car industry amid fears the sector could lose 50,000 jobs.
Spanish households have cut back spending on widespread expectations their economy will enter recession by year end and stay there much of 2009 as unemployment rises above 15 percent.
Spain's unemployment rate was by far the highest in Europe in October at 12.8 percent, according to the European Union.
Source: Forbes.com