Ford says Europe's car market may take 5-6 years to recover: paper

Ford Motor Co's (F.N) European chief Stephen Odell expects the European car market could take five to six years to recover, the executive was quoted as saying by a German newspaper.

"There are indications, that an end of the decline may come in the second half of this year. However, a recovery of the market, we estimate, will take at least five to six years," Odell was quoted as saying by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

He said Ford maintained its sales forecast of 13.5 million vehicles in 19 western European nations for this year, far below 2007 levels when 18 million vehicles were sold.

Odell said he still expected to lose $1.8 billion in Europe.

In October last year, Ford said it would close three plants and cut 6,200 jobs in Europe by 2014.

Odell said he did not expect any additional restructuring measures. "But we continue to keep production in balance with demand," he said.