Asian cars are putting European marques in the shade

When they do buy, the data from the Brussels-based ACEA indicated, they are increasingly turning to Asian firms instead of vendors closer to home.

Sales of new vehicles in October were down 0.3% on the month before, with the year-to-date total down 1.3% on 2002.

The trend stands in sharp contrast to that elsewhere in the world, as sales in the US, China and India power ahead.

Worldwide trends

The sluggish showing in Europe demonstrated by the survey, which covers the 15-nation European Union together with Iceland, Norway Switzerland, matches the continent's overall economic performance.

While growth in the US was 7.2% on an annual basis in the third quarter - and US carmakers are falling over themselves to provide tempting incentives - Europe's expansion is unlikely to reach even 1%.

And developing markets such as China and India, where new car sales in October were up a quarter on the previous year's showing, are also showing breakneck growth on spending by the newly-monied middle classes.

More worrying, though, could be the continuing trend towards Japanese and Korean vendors.

The move - which has seen the likes of Toyota, Hyundai and Kia gain ground at the expense of European giants such as Volkswagen and PSA Peugeot-Citroen - reflects a trend in the US.