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But built into the alliance's four-year timeline is an assumption that the European market will soon bottom out. "They have overcapacity and big dependence on the European market," Urqhart said. And even France's latest plan is not guaranteed. European Union regulators generally frown on state intervention into industry, although during the 2008-2009 financial crisis they gave swift approval to France's previous bailout. Joaquin Almunia, the European Union competition commissioner, said the EU has not yet been formally notified of the latest plan for Peugeot but said the governing body would assess it carefully. Peugeot's CEO Philippe Varin said the government guarantee was at market rates and he expected the EU to look favorably on it. "The health of (Peugeot) is critical for France," Varin said. Figures released Wednesday illustrated the problems Peugeot is facing. Sales fell 3.9 percent in the third quarter to
euro12.93 billion from euro13.45 billion in the same period last year. Automotive division sales were down 8.5 percent, hurt especially by a weakening European demand and the suspension of deliveries to Iran. Sales increases in China and Russia shored up the company, as has the expansion of the GM alliance. Peugeot's shares are down more than 60 percent since the beginning of the year, and dropped further on Wednesday. The company will offer no dividends for the term of the bailout, and executives will receive no stock options during that time. "The main thing the government wants in return, it's really a change in governance" at Peugeot, said Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the government spokeswoman. Luxury carmakers such as Germany's BMW AG or Volkswagen AG's Audi brand have generally coped better than the mass market producers, but Daimler AG on Wednesday reported lower third quarter earnings and lowered its full-year outlook. The maker of Mercedes Benz cars saw its net profit declining 11 percent to
euro1.20 billion ($1.6 billion) from euro1.36 billion a year ago amid flat unit sales. The full-year operating profit outlook was lowered to
euro8 billion, down from last year's euro8.8 billion. In Italy, one of the worst-hit by the economic crisis, car sales have sunk to 40-year lows, hurting the earnings of another regional giant, Fiat, the owner of Chrysler. Its CEO, Sergio Marchionne, has abandoned a proposal to invest
euro20 billion in Italy because of weak demand and is expected to announce soon its plans for production at Italian plants that have been idled for weeks. Robert Schulz, an analyst for Standard & Poor's who covers Ford and General Motors, said automakers in Europe are going to have to drastically adjust expectations to determine "what a new normal is" after six years of decline. "Sales are going to be down in Europe," he said. "Whatever excess capacity they have is only going to get worse."
[Associated
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