EU car sales down 12% in November amid new virus restrictions

Sales of new cars in the European Union fell sharply in November, a trade group said Thursday, blaming the latest slump on new restrictions against the coronavirus pandemic.

Around 898,000 vehicles were sold in the bloc last month, down 12 per cent year-on-year, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said in its monthly bulletin.

The market shrank “as several European governments introduced new measures to contain the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic,” ACEA noted.

In the biggest EU countries, year-on-year sales crashed by 27 per cent in France and by 18.7 per cent in Spain, while the drop was more limited in Italy (minus 8.3 per cent) and Germany (minus 3 per cent).

The coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on the automotive sector. In 2020, year-on-year new car sales were down every month except September.

From January to November, the market shrank by 25.5 per cent, to around 9 million units. “The impact of Covid-19 continue[s] to weigh heavily on the cumulative performance of all EU markets,” ACEA noted.

Germany’s Volkswagen group retained its EU market leadership position, with a 25.6-per-cent share of sales in the first 11 months.

France’s PSA Group was second in ACEA’s rankings with a market share of 15.4 per cent, followed by Renault on 11.5 per cent, Hyundai on 7.1 per cent, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on 6.6 per cent.

Source: GNA