European auto stocks are on watch heading into Friday's cash session in the U.S., after ugly November sales data was released from across the pond.

New registrations plunged 17% in November, marking the fifth month in a row where the region's auto market contracted, according to Bloomberg Friday morning.

New car registrations came in at 864,119, the worst number since the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association started tracking figures in 1993, the writeup says.

It hampers gains in new car registrations for the year, which are now only up 0.8% heading into the last month of 2021. So much for a post-pandemic turnaround...

Stellantis, Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen and Renault will all be on watch Friday, and likely heading into next week. Suppliers and tire producers like Michelin and Pirelli will also be in focus. 

This follows data out of China for November, which showed vehicle sales fall for the seventh straight month. Sales in China were down 9.1% from the year prior as the industry continued to struggle with what is now becoming a year's long semiconductor shortage. 

The country posted total sales of 2.52 million vehicles in November, once again led by sales of new energy and electric vehicles, according to Reuters.

Total new energy vehicles grew 121% to 450,000 units from the year prior, helped along by the government pushing to further rein in pollution. New energy vehicles include battery-powered electric vehicles, plug-in petrol-electric hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, Reuters wrote days ago.

CAAM spokesperson Chen Shihua commented: "Consumer acceptance of new energy vehicles continues to rise. The market has shifted from policy-motivated to demand-driven."