Analyst predicts recovery in global auto sales in 2010

SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- Worldwide auto sales, buffeted by the global economic
crisis, will hit bottom this year and are set to recover in early 2010, a senior
analyst at auto consulting company CSM Worldwide Inc. said Tuesday.

Michael Robinet, vice president of global forecast services for the U.S.-based
CSM, said global auto sales are expected to fall to 55 million units this year, a
contraction of about 10 percent from last year.
Robinet was speaking at an industry conference in Seoul, hosted by South Korea's
government trade agency, the Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency.
"The global auto market is expected to recover early next year in line with the
projected recovery in the global economy," Robinet was quoted as saying in a
Korean-language statement released by the South Korean agency.
Auto sales worldwide have sharply declined in recent months as the deepening
global economic downturn and tight credit markets wilt demand for new vehicles.
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