Car Sales Fall Across W. Europe

BRUSSELS, Belgium AP is reporting that West European new passenger car sales were down 1.4 percent last month compared to February 2001, the Association of European Auto Manufacturers said Wednesday.

The association said 1,061,158 new cars were sold in the 18 countries surveyed down from 1,076,930 in February 2001.

The figures confirm "the slow start of the European car market in 2002," said the association which is known by its French acronym ACEA. However, it added the decrease remains "marginal."

A barometer of economic trends, the car sales figures revealed a mixed sales picture across the region, with gainers and losers in the five biggest car markets.

New car registrations in Germany, Europe's biggest car market, were 239,000, up 1.2 percent on the year.

Britain, Europe's second largest market, also continued to report strong sales growth. Sales there shot up 18.1 percent to 93,515 units, thanks to "persistent high consumer confidence," the ACEA said.

Sales in Italy fell 12.3 percent. This was reflected in poorer sales at homegrown car marker Fiat SpA, which fell 16.1 percent. Car sales in Spain were down by 7.4 percent and in France by 2.4 percent, reversing "months of strong performance," the ACEA said.

The ACEA figures cover new passenger car registrations in the 15-nation European Union, along with Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.