Ford car sales fall 29% in Europe Ford Motor's sales in the Europe plunged 29 per cent year-on-year in August as the continent's car market contracted for the 11th consecutive month. The US carmaker, which is heading for a $1bn loss in Europe, reported the weakest sales numbers of any big producer, but others reporting double-digit losses included PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault, General Motors, Fiat, and BMW. The data, published by the industry association Acea on Tuesday, showed that new passenger car registrations in Europe fell 9 per cent in August to about 790,000 units, the biggest drop since February. Eight months into the year, the market was down 7 per cent on a year ago, at 8.27m units, Acea said. Europe's mass-market car industry is in crisis, with many producers losing money because of falling consumer confidence and intense price competition at dealerships and some closing or downsizing plants. Among the brands that reported higher sales last month were South Korean brand Kia, whose unit sales grew 3 per cent on the previous year, and UK premium carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, registrations of whose vehicles rose 48 per cent, primarily on the strength of its Land Rover marque. August is typically the lowest month in the calendar for car industry sales. Ford attributed its plunge in registrations last month to a decision not to match competitors" discounts. "August was even slower than usual this year, and there was a lot of short-cycle business and heavy incentives that we decided to largely refrain from," Roelant de Waard, Ford of Europe's head of marketing, sales and service, said in a media release. Mr de Waard said that Ford would benefit in the fourth quarter from the launch of more vehicles, including its C-Max people carrier, Kuga Crossover, and Fiesta small car. The company recently announced an expansion of its product offering in Europe in an effort to regain its footing on a market it and most of its competitors do not expect to recover to pre-recession levels anytime soon. Ford is also considering closing at least one of its plants on the continent in order to cut costs, according to people familiar with its thinking. The group's factory in Genk, Belgium, that produces its Mondeo model and its smaller plant in Southampton, UK, that makes the chassis-cab variant of its Transit van, are said to be the likeliest to be cut in any restructuring of Ford's European business.