More signs of the European connection to the failing US auto market.  The International Herald Tribune is reporting that car sales are way down all over the globe and that there is a direct link to the failing US market:

Sales slumped 39 percent at GM and 56 percent at Chrysler after they told the U.S. Congress that they were running out of cash. Volkswagen fared best among major automakers, with deliveries down 16 percent.

European business and consumer confidence fell to a 15-year low in November as advanced economies suffered their first simultaneous recession in more than 60 years. Britain and Spain had the steepest drops among major markets, with East European sales also weaker. Registrations for the first 11 months of the year slid 7.1 percent, accelerating from a 5.4 percent decline through October.

The article goes one to state that a few car companies have seem improved sales over the month of November, Audi for one, but the overall picture remains bleak.  The brunt of the economic wrath seems to be hitting upscale autos in large proportion as well.  The International Herald Tribune reports a 55 percent drop in sales for the company Land Rover for instance.  Some Euro car manufacturers have even gone the bailout route in hope of staying afloat.  One company that has been looking for a bailout: Ople.  The irony is that Ople is a subsidiary of GM.  Go figure.

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