Several major European car manufacturers have scheduled days with zero production, on the expectation that the market will shrink again in 2012, “a further indication that the debt crisis is beginning to hit the real economy.”
And in this article the head of one of the US’s biggest manufacturers warns that the US and much of Europe may already be in recession. (Although this report at the start of October showed US car sales up strongly.)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9abce9d4-f684-11e0-824e-00144feab49a.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a2e9314e-f6b1-11e0-9381-00144feab49a.html