Carmakers sound alarm at gloomy Paris show

By Marcel Michelson

PARIS (Reuters) - Top automakers including General Motors Corp (GM) and Ford warned of tough times as the Paris Auto Show opened on Thursday amid concerns that slowing demand could force production cuts and job losses.

Volkswagen's latest Golf and Toyota's new Avensis saloon for Europe headline the event, which opened under a cloud as makers struggle to attract buyers worried by slowing economies and as a global credit crisis hurts auto leasing.

Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote) Chief Executive Alan Mulally said he expected no recovery in the global car market until 2010 and urged governments and central banks to work together to bring stability back to the financial markets.

"2009 is not going to be better than 2008," Mulally told reporters at the show. "We won't see a recovery until 2010," he added, noting markets were down around the globe.

GM's (GM.N: Quote) chief operating officer, Fritz Henderson, warned of weakness to come in both the U.S. and western European markets.

"Certainly in the first half (of 2009) it's going to be weak," Henderson told reporters at the show, noting weakness in western Europe.

"We're all under some pressure for the next 12 to 24 months," he said.

Mitsuo Kinoshita, senior board member at Japan's Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote), said the credit crunch was hurting consumer confidence and could force Toyota to review its global sales targets of 9.5 million vehicles in 2008 and 9.7 million for next year.