Car market yet to hit bottom - Pirelli Tyre owner
MILAN, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The car market has yet to hit bottom, with demand plummeting in the wake of the global financial crisis, the owner of Pirelli Tyre, Italy's premium tyre maker, said on Thursday.
Marco Tronchetti Provera, chairman of Pirelli & C (PECI.MI), the holding company of the tyre maker, said consumers would likely wait several months to see if government measures to revive the slowing economy proved successful before they considered making a big purchase like a car.
"I don't think we have hit bottom," he said at a meeting with reporters. "We'll need a few months more."
In an effort to ward off recession in the European Union, the European Commission announced on Wednesday a stimulus package worth 200 billion euros ($258 billion).
One proposal involves at least 5 billion euros of funding to encourage the car industry to develop more environmentally friendly cars.
Western European new car sales fell 15.5 percent in October to just over 1 million units. Sales are also down in the rest of the world.
As a result, car makers are rushing to cut costs. Many of them have halted production at their plants like Fiat (FIA.MI) in Italy and Brazil.
General Motors Corp GM.N on Thursday added to the sector's woes saying it aimed to cut labour costs at its European operations by at least 10 percent.
Tronchetti dismissed any talk that Pirelli Tyre could be interested in Continental's (CONG.DE) tyre business.
"Restructuring is our priority," he said.
"We haven't heard anything," he added in response to a question about a possible offer having been made to Pirelli Tyre to buy or take part in the purchase of the business.
A German daily said last month three private equity investors were preparing takeover offers for the business.
(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
