Credit crunch hits Euro car buyers

* Europe hit harder than UK * New car sales fall 54.6% in Ireland * Euro market falls by 5.4%...

Credit crunch hits Euro car buyers

The credit crunch is hitting UK new car sales hard, but if there is a crumb of comfort, it's that sales in continental Europe are falling more quickly.

New car sales in Europe fell by 14.5% in October, the sixth monthly fall in a row, according to ACEA, the European car makers' association.

Car sales in Ireland and Spain were the worst-affected, plummeting 54.6% and 40% respectively, in October. New car registrations in the UK were down by 23% for the same period.

ACEA's cumulative figures for the European car market, from January to October, show a fall of 5.4%, which has been blamed on the financial and economic downturn.