The steep decline in new-car sales in western Europe could be even worse than a slump in the early 1990s, a market forecaster says.

J.D. Power Automotive Forecasting said western European new-car sales fell by 15.5 percent to 1,035,243 million units in October from a year earlier.

"The speed and severity of the market decline is now comparable to, perhaps even greater than that which took place during the recession of the early 1990s," J.D. Power said in a statement.

The forecaster predicts a decline of between 10 percent and 11 percent for the car market in western Europe next year after an expected 8 percent fall in 2008. That will place major strains on the European auto industry.

Falling consumer confidence resulting from the financial market crisis and the impact of expensive financing are hitting sales, J.D. Power said.

Germany, one of Western Europe's stronger-performing markets until recently, is now succumbing to the downturn. German new-car sales were down 8.2 percent to 258,814 units in October, J.D. Power said.

Sales in France are also now weakening after only mild declines earlier. French sales fell 7.3 percent to 175,014 units last month.

The UK market continued to fall sharply with October sales down 23 percent to 128,352 units.

Spanish and Italian car sales reported large falls but there are signs that a bottom may be forming in both countries.

Spain's October sales were down 40 percent to 77,660 units and Italian sales dropped 19.8 percent to 167,940 units.

In Germany, the October decline amounts to an annualized selling rate of below 3 million units, J.D. Power said.

"We expect that sales will continue to struggle in 2009: a 5 percent decline is our current assumption though a greater fall remains a real possibility."

J.D. Power also predicts a 5 percent decline for 2009 in France and a double-digit decline in UK sales.

Government-sponsored incentive schemes planned in some countries will only provide a small boost to sales, the forecaster said.

E-mail Paul McVeigh at pmcveigh@craincom.de