Friday January 2, 07:07 PM
Spanish car sales plunge record 28 percent in 2008: trade group
MADRID (AFP) - Sales of new cars in Spain plunged a record 28 percent in 2008 as the country's economy suffered an abrupt downturn and demand plunged, official automaker figures showed on Friday.
In December alone, sales plummeted 49.9 percent to 72,377 vehicles from 144,441 a year earlier, the biggest monthly fall of 2008, the Spanish automobile manufacturers' association ANFAC said in a statement.
Over the year, there were 1.16 million cars sold, down 28.1 percent, the lowest number in 10 years and the biggest annual fall ever.
Vehicles by US automaker Ford were the best sellers in 2008, ahead of French manufacturers Peugeot (Paris: FR0000121501 - news) and Citroen, which was the top maker in 2007.
"The crisis deepened throughout the year along with the conditions for the purchase of vehicles, in particular in the second half," ANFAC said.
Spain's economy, the fifth-biggest in Europe, has been battered by the impact of the global credit crunch which has crippled its key construction sector that was already weakened by oversupply and rising interest rates.
The economic output shrank by 0.2 percent in the third quarter from the previous quarter, the first such decline in 15 years, helping to push up the unemployment rate to 11.3 percent, the highest level in the European Union.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government has earmarked 800 million euros (one billion dollars) of an 11-billion-euro economic stimulus package for the country's ailing automakers.
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