Car Parts company ElringKlinger AG, based in Germany, who make car parts for Ford and Volkswagen, have forecast the first decline in sales in at least a decade as orders slump, according to Bloombergs news wire service.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Chief Executive Officer Stefan Wolf said at a press conference in Stuttgart today. New orders for car parts in the first quarter plummeted about 30 percent from a year earlier, he said.
The Ford and VW supplier expect revenue to be 580 million euros ($764 million) to 600 million euros this year if the North American and European car markets shrink by at least another 20 percent as they expect. Sales may fall to as low as 500 million euros if car production does not improve. Revenue totaled 657.8 million euros in 2008.
European car sales fell more than 25 percent in January, while U.S. sales fell 37 percent. With the first recession in the euro’s 10-year history deepening, carmakers from Renault SA to Volkswagen AG are cutting jobs and scaling back production. At best, ElringKlinger expects 2009 operating profit and sales to match last year’s level, it said today.
