Western European car sales are continuing to splutter, with the latest figures from the Association of European Auto Manufacturers (ACEA) illustrating a 3.5 per cent monthly slide on last year's totals.

Statistics released today show that while Europe's biggest car market, Germany, scored a small increase, the wider picture remains downbeat.

ACEA told Bloomberg that "a still-hesitant economic situation" was affecting the market, and also noted that there were less working days this October than last.

Indeed, ten-month sales remain on track for modest growth, with 12.3 million vehicles sold to date, a 1.1 per cent increase on 2003 figures.

Nevertheless, with sales falling for the fourth month in a row - down to 1.14 million vehicles compared to 1.18 million in October 2003 - concerns are likely to be building over the state of the industry.

Peugeot was among the big losers, seeing its sales slide 12 per cent, with world number one General Motors also struggling at the moment.