The European Car Market Began The Year With A Sharp Drop In Sales

The European passenger car market started 2020 with a drop in sales. According to the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA), demand dropped by 7.5% - 956.8 thousand cars were sold. Experts attribute the January drop to high sales in December, when the market added almost 22%.

• The demand for cars decreased in all key EU markets: in France (minus 13.4%, 134.2 thousand units), in Spain (minus 7.6%, 86.4 thousand), Germany (minus 7.3%, 246, 3 thousand) and in Italy (minus 5.9%, 155.5 thousand cars).
• The fall was also recorded in most other countries. The largest of them are Holland (44.3 thousand pieces, minus 6.1%), Poland (39.5 thousand, minus 14.1%), Ireland (31.2 thousand, minus 3.6%) and Belgium (23 thousand, minus 9.1%).
• The largest markets that showed growth were Belgium (plus 51.8 thousand cars, 1.5%), Hungary (plus 10.1 thousand, 4.1%) and Greece (plus 9.8 thousand, 6.2%).

• Among manufacturers the most popular brands were Porsche (plus 67.5%, 5.6 thousand cars), DS (plus 46.6%, 4.9 thousand) and Lexus (plus 29%, 5.0 thousand units).

• Sales also increased for the brands Seat (plus 9.2%, 39.9 thousand cars), Toyot (plus 8.9%, 66.9 thousand), Audi (plus 8.5%, 53.8 thousand), BMW (plus 8.4%, 64.1 thousand) and Mitsubishi (plus 1.2%, 11.4 thousand).
• The strongest decline among mass brands was the demand for Opel (minus 26.9%, 51 thousand cars), Ford (minus 18.6%, 63 thousand), Peugeot (minus 9.2%, 74.3 thousand), Renault (minus 6.7%, 72.1 thousand) and Volkswagen (minus 6.4%, 142.8 thousand). Lad is also in the red: only 183 cars were sold (minus 41.7%).

One of the reasons for the drop in sales is the increase in taxes in a number of EU countries in 2020. As a result, those who thought about buying a car did not wait for the price hike and bought the car back in December. In addition, the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union contributed to the weakening of demand.