European car sales drop 16 percent in October

Sales of new cars in Europe dropped by 16.6 percent in October from the level 12 months earlier, marking the seventh month running of falling sales, trade data showed on Tuesday.

In the first 10 months of the year sales were down 5.5 percent from the same period last year to 11.9 million vehicles, said the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA).

The decline in sales comes as many European countries wind down "cash for clunkers" schemes aimed at boosting sales during the peak of the economic downturn.

In total, 1,027,036, new vehicles were registered in the European Union in October excluding Malta and Cyprus which did not provide data.

Spain saw the greatest monthly decline in October of 37.6 percent, with Italy down 28.8 percent, Britain 22.2 percent, Germany 20 percent and France 18.5 percent.