* Sales fall 11.5 pct in first quarter, from year earlier
* Car association says subsidies working (Adds quarterly figure, comments)
(Reuters) – Spanish car sales fell 13.9 percent year-on-year in March, deeper than a 9.8 percent fall in February, as a seasonal effect undermined a government subsidy scheme to stimulate the crisis-wracked sector.
Car manufacturers association Anfac said on Monday 72,677 cars were sold in March in Spain. It said 180,724 were sold in the first three months of the year, a fall of 11.5 percent from the same quarter in 2012.
Subsidisies aimed at boosting car sales were helping the sector avoid steeper falls, Anfac said in a note on the figures, saying March figures were hit by the seasonal effect of Easter, which meant the loss of three working days.
Individuals were being encouraged to buy cars, thanks to the subsidy scheme that was reintroduced in October and had led to about 1,000 new deals a day. Under the programme, buyers who turn in a used car get a 2,000 euros rebate on a new car, funded in part by the state and in part by the automobile industry.
“The company car sector continues to be very worrying and continues to register falls of over 20 percent,” said Head of Communications for Anfac David Barrientos in the note.
Sky-high unemployment and limited credit in Spain, which is is in its second recession in five years, have badly hit car sales. (Reporting By Sarah Morris and Manuel Ruiz, editing by)
SOurce: Reuters
