Tuesday, January 19, 2021
New registrations collapse
European car market experiences horror year
During the pandemic, consumers often put expensive purchases on hold. The automakers are also feeling this. In Europe, new registrations will decrease by almost a quarter in 2020. But there are also signs of a recovery – a German manufacturer is selling even more cars in December than before the crisis.
The Corona year was the worst for the European car market since records began in 1990. Compared to the previous year, new registrations for passenger cars in 2020 fell by almost 24 percent to 9.42 million vehicles, as the European industry association Acea announced in Brussels. The two corona waves with lockdown phases have left strong skid marks in the statistics. In addition, the great uncertainty among customers due to the severe economic consequences resulted in a clear reluctance to buy. In Germany, the market collapsed by almost a fifth year-on-year.
In December, the number of newly registered cars in the European Union fell by a moderate 3.3 percent to 1.031 million vehicles compared to the same month last year. In Germany there was even a countermovement with an increase of almost 10 percent. The other major European markets got it worse: In Spain, new registrations remained practically stable compared to the previous year, in France the numbers fell by almost 12 percent. There was a minus of almost 15 percent on the Italian car market.
In December, Daimler had to accept a minus of almost 15 percent in new registrations in the European Union, making the Stuttgart-based company the worst among German carmakers. At BMW it was 6.2 percent.
The Volkswagen Group, on the other hand, was able to shine with a plus – it put almost 10 percent more cars on the road. The Opel parent company PSA increased by almost 3 percent, Renault recorded a decrease of 13 percent. A look at the year shows: Only in September was there an increase in registrations, in all other months of the year the numbers were in some cases significantly lower. The lockdown month of April set the negative record with a drop in new registrations of 76.3 percent compared to the previous year.
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