The recovery in the European car market is not continuing. After a strong July, sales in August are again significantly weaker.
The demand for new cars collapsed across Europe due to the corona crisis in August. Last month, 769,525 new vehicles hit the streets in the European Union, a decrease of 18.9 percent, as the European manufacturers’ association Acea announced on Thursday in Brussels. In July, new registrations had only shrunk by just under six percent.
Around 1.1 million vehicles rolled to customers in the month. Overall, car sales fell by almost a third to 6.1 million vehicles in the first eight months because customers were reluctant to make major new purchases during the crisis. That is almost three million cars fewer than in the same period last year.
As the ACEA also reported, since the beginning of the year Spain recorded the strongest decline in demand among the major EU markets with minus 40.6 percent, followed by Italy with minus 38.9 percent and France with minus 32 percent. In Germany, manufacturers sold almost 29 percent fewer vehicles. With the exception of BMW and the Korean brand Kia, sales of all manufacturers fell in August.
