Future plants of Renault (Renault) in Spain are hanging in the air after the announcement of 78% drop in profit for 2008, which amounts to € 599 million. The same uncertainty is with the group Peugeot-Citroen (Peugeot Citroen), which has lost € 343 million over the last year and reported the need to reduce 11’000 jobs.

Dutch bank ING has announced that he ceases to sponsor the team Renault in Formula One. The Bank has supported the Renault and Fernando Alonso in the past few years, but now it comes out of sponsorship for the purpose of saving up. The decision will come into force next season after the current contract ends this year.

New Year continued the trend of the last year. The largest-ever registration performance decline in the production of cars in Spain was recorded in January this year. The disappearance of the demand led to a 53% reduction in relation to the level of last year, and conveyors let out only 123’762 new cars.

The market of commercial vehicles is also in very bad situation. The number of trucks registered in January in Spain was the lowest in history, and compared to last year’s rate was less of about 72%. The organization of employees SEOE asked for donations from the Prime Minister in the amount of € 3’000-12’000 to stimulate sales of industrial vehicles.

Many truck drivers have no choice but to declare themselves bankrupt. During these six months more than 6’000 transportation companies have closed down and many have lost all, faced with a large unpaid traffic and closed doors of private lending institutions. About 200’000 trucks are parked – which make 40% of total truck number in Spain.