For the entire year, the federation forecast sales of just under 3.1 million vehicles, and said it expected a slump to 2.9 million in 2009. That meant German new car sales would drop in 2008 to “the weakest level since reunification” of eastern and western Germany in 1990, the federation said. A total of 233,800 new cars were registered in November, the fourth month running of falling sales, a VDA statement said.

“Car markets have taken a downward flight, which hasn’t occurred before with this speed and impact,” it quoted VDA president Matthias Wissmann as saying. “That will also have consequences for workers,” he warned during a press conference in western Frankfurt.

In Germany, where the auto sector is the country’s leading employer and exporter, both production and exports would fall back markedly in 2009, the federation said. VDA estimates that one out of every seven jobs in the biggest European economy depends directly or indirectly on the auto sector, while the German car market is also the biggest on the continent.

In many other European countries as well, automobile manufacturers and parts makers have said they planned to scale back production and some have said that furloughs and layoffs of temporary workers were to be expected as well.

French new car registrations were down 14 percent in November in raw figures and 5.0 percent when adjusted for comparable working days.

Spain and Italy showed even more dramatic falls, at nearly 50 percent and 30 percent respectively.

Luxury car sales are among those sliding lower, with wealthy Russians buying fewer Bentleys, Ferraris and other high-end vehicles as the global financial crisis reins in spending, daily Kommersant reported on Wednesday.

In the United States, auto sales plunged by 37 percent in November, industry data showed on Tuesday as General Motors, Ford and Chrysler got set to appeal to lawmakers for a massive bailout package. Executives from the Big Three will testify before Congress on Thursday and Friday. “Every manufacturer is posting awful numbers,” said Mark LaNeve, GM vice president of North America vehicle sales, service and marketing, and the group planned to cut up to 31,500 more jobs in the United States.

In Tokyo, Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it would cut management bonuses by 10 percent, excluding top executives, and further reduce domestic production to cope with the slump. Toyota also reported a 34 percent drop in November US auto sales.

And new car registrations fell by 30 percent in Brazil in November on an annual basis, the national car dealers’ federation Fenabrave said, after two years of fast-paced growth.