Ford Motor Company (F), General Motors Company (GM), Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (TM): European Car Sales Plummet, Even in Solid Germany

For the time being, orders from around the rest of the world help cover carmakers’ European losses — but that is something executives say cannot last. Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) plans to close three plants and reduce European production by 18 percent over the next two years, while General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) announced this month it will close a German Opel plant by the end of 2014.

Fiat SpA — whose profits are mainly due to its Chrysler operations in the U.S. — has switched investment from producing mass market cars in Italy to expanding its premium brands like Alfa Romeo and Maserati which it can easily export.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) has said it doesn’t expect to break even in Europe until 2015, while for Fiat that will be in 2015-2016.

Among Europe’s major markets, only Britain posted growth in the quarter, up 7.4 percent to 605,000 vehicles, the ACEA says. Fletcher of the IHS said this was due to country-specific reasons including a shortage of used cars and very favorable financing.

Jaguar and Land Rover bucked the trend for a 13 percent increase in sales, while Honda rose 19 percent — each claiming a market share of a mere 1.4 percent. Also gaining sales and market share were Renault’s off-price brand Dacia, with sales up 14.6 percent for a 2.1 percent share, and Hyundai’s Kia brand, with sales up 3.5 percent for a 2.7 percent share.

Other pockets of bright news hardly bore up under scrutiny. Sales of private passenger vehicles were up 2.7 percent in Portugal, one of the countries suffering most under the debt crisis. Even so, that was still 32.5 percent lower than the average for that quarter between 2009 and 2012.

With Europe’s economy forecast only to show some signs of recovery toward the end of this year — and possibly not until into 2014 — any hopes of improving sales for Europe’s car industry appear some way off.

“Once again, it is difficult to put a positive spin on the latest passenger car figures,” Fletcher said.

The article European Car Sales Plummet, Even in Solid Germany originally appeared on Fool.com.

The Motley Fool recommends Ford and General Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of Ford.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.