World Car Sales Decreased By 28% In Six Months

According to the results of the first half of the year, sales of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in the world decreased by 27.7%, to 32.6 million units, according to LMC Automotive. At the same time, the dynamics of June - minus 18.1% (6.364 million units) - became the most positive since the beginning of the pandemic. This indicates the growth of buyers' activity and the smooth recovery of the market.

Region	June, 2020, thousand pcs.	Dynamics, %	January June, 2020, thousand pcs.	Dynamics, %
Argentina, Brazil	157,7	-36,6	909,6	-39,0
Eastern Europe	328,9	-8,6	1538,6	-21,9
Western Europe	1134,6	-26,7	5195,5	-40,3
Canada	144,9	-23,5	985,2	-33,2
China	2186,2	6,0	9761,3	-19,5
Korea	202,0	42,5	914,4	7,6
USA	1113,3	-26,2	6415,6	-23,7
Japan	342,6	-22,8	2177,7	-19,9
Other countries	753,7	-40,7	5038,6	-35,6
Total	6363,9	- 18,1	32609,1	- 27,7

South Korea is the only large market that has come out on top in the first half of the year: it quickly coped with the consequences of the coronavirus and began to restore the country's economy. June sales grew by almost 1.5 times compared to the same month last year - largely due to the low base effect, as well as a temporary decrease in the excise tax on passenger transport.

The rise for the month was also recorded in China, but mainly due to good demand for commercial vehicles. LMC Automotive experts predict that by the end of the year, sales here will exceed 20 million units - 20% less than last year.

The Eastern European market came close enough to the June 2019 result: sales decreased by 8.6%, to 328.9 thousand units. At the end of the first half of the year, the dynamics here is better than in most markets: minus 20% (1.539 million units). Quite good (in the current conditions) indicators were formed largely thanks to the Turkish car market, where sales are growing for the second month in a row, and in six months they have added 19%.

For the US car market, June 2020 was the worst in the last 9 years, but thanks to various incentive programs, the retail sector sank only 14.2%. Car sales to legal entities decreased by 69%. By the end of the year, the market will shrink by 23% to 13.1 million vehicles.

According to analysts, by the end of 2020, global new car sales will reach 66.3 million units, which is 26.6% less than in 2019. At the same time, experts do not exclude a second wave of the coronavirus epidemic, which will lead to an even greater fall in the economies of most countries and, as a result, a drop in demand for cars.