Ford's Europe Sales Dive

By NEAL E. BOUDETTE

Ford Motor Co. said Friday its new car sales in Europe fell 16% in June, a reflection of the continent's serious debt troubles and economic slump.

The company sold 124,200 passenger cars last month in the 22 nations making up its European market, down from 147,500 in June 2011.

Ford's decline was significantly greater than that of the European auto industry as a whole. Industrywide sales in the 22 nations fell 1.3% last month, to 1,736,700 passenger cars, Ford said.

In the first six months of the year, Ford's sales declined 9.6% to 733,900 cars, while industry sales fell 4.8% to 9.52 million. Growth in Russia, and to a lesser extent Turkey and Romania, has helped offset larger declines in European Union countries. Car sales in 19 EU markets fell 7.1% to 7.7 million vehicles in the first half of 2012.

European auto sales have fallen in each of the last four years and are on track to post a fifth consecutive decline this year. Many auto makers have more plants and workers than they need.

Write to Neal E. Boudette at neal.boudette@wsj.com

Source: http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/xml/rss/3_7011/~3/O1pDkDH0I6w/SB10001424052702304373804577524813166600288.html

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