Balearic new car sales slump

New car sales in the Balearics have fallen sharply so far this year. During the first seven months of this year, January to July, the number of new cars on the Balearics roads has slumped by 14.40, the second biggest drop in Spain, only in Galicia were fewer new cars sold where the decline was 14.43 per cent. Last month alone, the number of new cars was down by 10.6 per cent in comparison to July last year. According to a report published yesterday by the Association of Automobile and Lorry Manufacturers, the down turn in car sales is a national phenomenon, only two regions, Spain's N. African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla reported a slight increase in new cars sales last month. The fall in new cars sales in the Balearics this year is further evidence that consumers have lost their spending confidence. The regional employment market is not as buoyant as usual and the crisis in the tourist industry is starting to have knock-on effects across the whole community, both socially and economically. Few other areas of Spain have however reported a fall in car sales of double figures, apart from the tourism-dependent Canary Islands.