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Euro auto output to fall 25 pct in 2009: industry body
2009-03-04
BRUSSELS (AFP) - European auto output will fall 25 percent this year as the industry struggles in the global economic crisis, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said Wednesday. "Our forecast for production is 25 percent down in 2009 compared with 2008," said ACEA president Carlos Ghosn. "For the moment, our forecast is 25 percent. For the moment," said Ghosn, who also heads up France's Renault. "Things are changing all the time. The forecast I gave you today was not the same as the forecast I gave you last week. Last week, it was down 15 percent," he noted. In January, new car sales fell 27 percent to the lowest level in 20 years, ACEA said last month. Ghosn said the only exception in Europe was Germany. "When we have a look at the February sales, there's only one market which is up, it's Germany. And Germany is up only in one segment, the low segment of the market which exploded, due mainly to the scrapping incentives," he said. "This led the German market 21 percent up. But if you exclude (Germany) it is 25 percent down." The Renault boss called for joint European intervention saying the sector needed 40 billion euros (50 billion dollars), adding that piecemeal interventions by national governments and loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB) were not enough. "We don't want only national governments to be taking these kinds of measures, we want also Europe to be stepping in," he said. "Financing of the industry is a very important issue that cannot be solved only with EIB loans. "The EIB today is only based on projects. I mean if you have a project of an electric car, the EIB can finance you. And it's limited to 400 million euros per car manufacturer every year."
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