European Car Sales Hit 20 Year May Low

May hasn't been such a bad month since 1993

Passenger car registrations in Europe dropped sharply in May and hit the lowest level recorded for the month in twenty years, as the region's ongoing recession continued to weigh on sentiment, dragging demand for many leading car brands. The data has dealt a fresh blow to manufacturers' hopes of the sector recovering from the downtrend.

Demand for passenger vehicles contracted in most of the major European economies, expect the UK, amid the deepening recession in the euro area, the longest in its history, which continued to drag economic activity and weaken the employment market.