FRANKFURT, Nov 14 - New car sales in western Europe slipped in October, with most local automakers losing share to their Japanese and Korean rivals, data released on Friday showed. Brussels-based carmaker association ACEA said October sales fell 0.3 percent in the region, bringing the total number of cars sold in the first ten months of the year to 12.19 million, a 1.3 percent drop from a year ago. The main winners were Japanese makers, of which Toyota <7203.T> is the biggest, and Korean rivals including Hyundai <005380.KS> and Kia <000270.KS>. Luxury carmaker BMW and France's Renault made modest gains while Europe's top two automakers Volkswagen and PSA Peugeot-Citroen as well as Ford Europe suffered sharp volume and market-share losses. Declining demand this year has taken its toll on profits which have also been eroded by buyer incentives introduced by companies in a bid to hold up sales. "This basically flat result seems to point towards a stabilisation of the market, in line with most economic indicators," ACEA said in a statement. Most experts anticipate a recovery in demand for automobiles early in 2004 after a decline of roughly two percent in sales this year, a result of weak economic conditions, subdued consumer sentiment and a dearth of new products.//