DETROIT - Growth in new car sales in key markets such as the U.S. has been robust as of late, but appears to be headed for a slow-down.

That's the message from ratings agency Moody's, which on Thursday said it has downgraded its outlook for the global automotive manufacturing industry to "negative" from "stable."

Moody's said that after an extended period of growth following a global recession, it now expects softer demand in the near future to pose problems for automakers, which are typically slower to adapt to shifts in market conditions.

In the U.S., demand for new vehicles appears to be hitting a plateau, after a record year in 2015. Moody's said it expects U.S. sales to rise 0.3 percent in 2016 and then post a decline of 0.6 percent in 2017.

"The US market is plateauing, with the pent-up demand from during and after the recession largely satisfied," the agency said. "Companies can remain profitable at these levels, but incentives and discounts must be kept in check."

Sales growth in Western Europe appears to have peaked, though it is still on track for 8.1 percent volume growth this year. Moody's expects sales in Western Europe to dip 0.4 percent in 2017.

In China, Moody's expects growth of 6.7 percent in 2016 and of 2.7 percent in 2017. And in Japan, sales are expected to fall 2.4 percent in 2016 and then grow just 0.9 percent in 2017.



Moody's said it would consider revising its outlook to "positive" if its global light vehicle sales growth forecast were to exceed 5 percent in each of the next two years, and would update it to "stable" if growth moves above 2 percent.