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yesterday, as consumers continue to hold back spending in Europe’s fifth-biggest economy.
The decline is far less than in previous months, after double-digit drops over the past year, but the figure is a “statistical mirage” as sales in July 2010 “were the worst in July since 1995”, tumbling 24,07 percent, motor vehicle manufacturers’ association ANFAC said in a statement.

Over the first seven months of the year, sales fell 24,1 percent compared to the same period in 2010.
A total of 78 913 new cars were sold last month, down 4,0 percent from the same month last year, Anfac said, with the end of a car trade-in scheme and a fragile economy blamed.

The most popular makes were Spain’s Seat, which is wholly owned by Germany’s Volkswagen, France’s Peugeot and Volkswagen itself. The best selling models were the Renault Megane, the Seat Ibiza and the Seat Leon.

“Car sales continue to be in free fall, with volumes similar to those seen in the 1990s,” said Juan Antonio Sanchez Torres, the head of auto retail association Ganvam.
The slump “has forced us to revise downwards our initial predictions for 2011, which are now 830 000 sales, the lowest level in 18 years”.

New car sales in Spain fell by over 20 percent each month since a government trade-in programme ended in July 2010 and the sales tax rose by two percentage points the same month.
Under the programme introduced in May 2009, the government offered subsidies of up to US$2 886 to help boost car sales. It ended when the money ran out.

Car sales in Spain inched up 3,1 percent in 2010 to 982 015, after two years of decline, but the rise was fuelled by strong sales in the first half when the incentive programme still existed.
New car sales fell 17,9 percent in 2009 after dropping 28 percent in 2008, the biggest-ever annual decline, as the collapse of a property bubble plunged the country into its worst recession in decades.

Spain’s unemployment rate hit 21,29 percent in the first quarter of 2011 and 20,89 percent in the second, the European Union’s highest level.
The high jobless rate has caused consumers to cut back on spending, especially on big ticket items like cars. – AFP.