Global car sales could take more than seven years to return to their 2007 levels of 69 million vehicles, Nissan Motors Co chief executive said on Sunday.

"It may take more than seven years to come back to this (2007) level," Carlos Ghosn told an economy conference in Saudi Arabia.

"If it was only about recession it would be a minor problem because we are cyclical industry," Ghosn said, noting that the credit crunch and foreign exchange volatility has worsened the impact of the recession.

Global car makers are likely to see "a consolidation" in the sector as a decline in sales is expected to accelerate in 2009 to around 55 million cars from 63 million sold in 2008, he said.

"Car sales in 2007 was 69 million; in 2008 they were at 63 million. In 2009 ... we can go to 55 million cars. Over the past few weeks the trend points to 55 million," Ghosn said.

"There is absolutely no doubt that we will see a consolidation," he said without being more specific.

"Two thirds of cars sold in the world are based on personal finance ... we are the first victim of the global financial meltdown," he added. - Reuters