European car sales slump for 14th month

European new car sales fell in November for the 14th consecutive month, losing 10.3 percent on an annualised basis to 926,486 vehicles, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said on Friday. Results were uneven across the continent however, with an increase of 11.3 percent in Britain, a small decline of 3.5 percent in Germany, the biggest European car market, and a plunge of 20.3 percent in Spain. Since the beginning of the year, new car registrations in Europe were 7.6 percent below their level in the first 11 months of 2011, at 11.26 million vehicles.A breakdown of the ACEA data showed that luxury German brands were still selling fairly well, with BMW gaining 3.8 percent and Mercedes-Benz edging 1.2 percent higher. South Korean automaker Hyundai, one of the country's brands signalled out for criticism by French Industrial Renewal Minister Arnaud Montebourg, posted a gain of 8.7 percent in November compared with the same month a year earlier. Montebourg has claimed several times that South Korean manufacturers were dumping their cars on the European market, a practice of selling goods for less than they cost, to garner market share. In November, European sales by the French group Renault plummeted by 27.7 percent, while those of PSA Peugeot Citroen fell by 15.6 percent.