Europe / Auto Market contracted in March

European new car sales contracted in March for an 18th consecutive month, industry data showed Wednesday, led by declines in Germany and France.

New vehicle registrations in the European Union fell 10.2 percent in March from a year earlier, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association reported from Brussels, to 1.3 million vehicles from about 1.5 million in March 2012.

Over the first three months of the year, sales totaled just under three million units, 9.8 percent below the year-earlier level, for the worst start to a single year since the association began collecting the data in 1990, when only 15 nations’ sales were considered…

The car industry directly accounts for more than 2 million jobs in Europe, including some of the best-paid manufacturing jobs, and another 10 million “indirect” jobs, according to the association. But production capacity now far outstrips the level at which makers can be profitable, and many of the Continent’s ailing carmakers are trying to restructure, seeking to cut their work forces and in some cases close plants, medicine that may make the economy sicker in the short term.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor

via European Auto Market Slump Continues – NYTimes.com.