US car sales are declining: due to the corona crisis, car manufacturers sold significantly less there than in the same period last year. VW and BMW also feel a drop in sales.
The corona virus crisis has caused US automaker General Motors to drop its unit sales by more than a third. From April to June, the company sold around 493,000 vehicles in the United States, 34 percent less than in the same period last year. However, the decline slowed towards the end of the second quarter, GM said on Wednesday. While private customers are now eager to buy new cars, but vehicles for rental car companies, businesses and authorities can hardly be set off.
German carmakers also recorded a drop in sales in the USA: Volkswagen sold only 69,933 new cars in the three months to the end of June, as the company announced on Wednesday at its US headquarters in Herndon, Virginia. This corresponds to a big minus of 29 percent compared to the previous year. In the first half of 2020, VW saw a 22 percent drop in sales.
Also, BMW has sold in the second quarter in the US significantly fewer cars than in the same period last year. Sales figures for the BMW and Mini brands shrank by around 40 percent to a good 56,000 cars, the company announced on Wednesday evening. Many car dealerships were closed by the pandemic. North America chief Bernhard Kuhnt is “cautiously optimistic” for the second half of the year.
As with GM, the decrease in Toyota in the second quarter was around 34 percent. The Japanese hit almost 400,000 vehicles. The US-Italian rival Fiat Chrysler had to accept a drop of almost 39 percent to around 367,000 vehicles in the second quarter, but has been seeing growing interest among US customers in buying cars since April. This is fueled by stable fuel prices and cheap consumer loans, according to Fiat Chrysler.
