European automobile market causes Peugeot sales to fall

Peugeot Citroen saw its global sales fall sharply last year, which it blamed on "the crisis affecting the European automobile market".

Europe's second- largest carmaker, delivered 20% fewer vehicles in the fourth quarter as a push abroad failed to protect the company from a recession in its home region.

The company's sales in Europe were down 8.6%, with big falls in the recession-hit southern European states.

Sales in Spain were down 14.9% last year, while in Italy they dropped by 20.9%. In France, Peugeot's sales were down by 13.3%.

Sales of cars, vans and kits of components ready for assembly fell to about 720,000 vehicles from 901,000 a year earlier, based on calculations derived from nine-month and full- year published figures.

Deliveries last year dropped 175 to 2.97 million, Paris-based Peugeot said today in a statement.

A European automobile market that's the smallest in almost two decades has led to cash depletion at Peugeot. The company said yesterday that its banking unit sold 3.1 billion euros ($4 billion) in asset-backed securities in 2012 to bolster finances.

The manufacturer entered a model-development alliance last year with General Motors Co. (GM), and it introduced the Peugeot 301 sedan in November in Turkey, part of a strategy to expand in emerging markets.

The economy of the 17 nations using the euro entered a recession in the third quarter, and the European Central Bank forecasts a contraction in the bloc's gross domestic product of 0.3% in 2013.

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA, has predicted that sales in the region last year would fall to about 12 million cars, the lowest figure since 1995.

On the bright side, sales did rise in some markets. In Russia they were up by 10.1%, in China they rose 7.2%, and in Latin America they were 5.6% higher.

For more information on the European automobile market, see the latest research: European Automobile Market

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