Italian car sales are expected to show a drop in sales for May according to reports from Automotive News.

The trade magazine claims that consumer demand has tailed off as incentives ended, with the figures for May set to demonstrate further negative movement according to a source at industry body Unrae.

'In May, the new car sales could be around 180,000 down from 208,000 vehicles sold this time last year,' the source said, referring to data due to be published on June 5th.

If confirmed the drop is likely to fuel fears that the European car market is on a long-term downward trend.

Italy's car sales fell 5.8 per cent year-on-year in April, in line with figures for Western Europe as a whole released by ACEA, which showed a 6.5 per cent loss last month.