(Bloomberg) -- Europe’s top auto markets posted their biggest annual sales declines in decades, with ongoing coronavirus restrictions expected to crimp a recovery early this year.
Registrations fell by about 25% last year across Germany, the U.K., France, Italy and Spain, Europe’s five largest car-buying countries, according to industry associations and transport ministries. The resurgence of Covid-19 led several governments to re-implement lockdown measures that are likely to drag on demand into early 2021.
Germany’s new-car registrations dropped roughly 20% in 2020, based on preliminary data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority, which will post detailed numbers Friday. Figures released earlier this week showed sales plunged 32% in Spain, 29% in the U.K., 28% in Italy and 25% in France. The U.K. auto industry’s trade group said the country’s decline was the worst since 1943.
The data show the outsize impact the coronavirus had on Europe’s car industry last year relative to China and the U.S., where car-buying was more resilient. Ongoing weakness in demand poses a risk to the euro-area economy, which relied heavily on the manufacturing sector in staging a recovery in the second half of last year.
“We are in a deep crisis,” Pierre-Louis Debar, head of statistics for French car-industry group CCFA, said in an interview. “It’s more extensive than anything we’ve seen in the past.”
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike Dean said the European auto market could pick up in the second quarter if governments lift lockdowns. Still, BI anticipates sales to finish 2021 down about 15% from 2019.
“The first quarter of 2021 will be difficult,” Dean said.
Electric vehicles have been a bright spot within the region’s malaise, with BI estimating that hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery-powered vehicles exceeded sales of diesel cars last quarter for the first time. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association will release Europe-wide registration data on Jan. 19.
Germany’s KBA on Wednesday said sales of purely electric cars rose more than 200% for the year, with Volkswagen AG seizing a 17% share of the segment, followed by Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz at 15%.
In France, fully electric cars accounted for 6.7% of total sales over the year, compared with 1.9% in 2019. The Renault Zoe was the top-selling EV in France with 37,409 units sold, well ahead of the 6,477 Tesla Model 3s and 4,187 Volkswagen ID.3s registered in the country.
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Últimas Noticias
Debanhi Escobar: they secured the motel where she was found lifeless in a cistern
Members of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in Nuevo León secured the Nueva Castilla Motel as part of the investigations into the case
The oldest person in the world died at the age of 119
Kane Tanaka lived in Japan. She was born six months earlier than George Orwell, the same year that the Wright brothers first flew, and Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
Macabre find in CDMX: they left a body bagged and tied in a taxi
The body was left in the back seats of the car. It was covered with black bags and tied with industrial tape
The eagles of America will face Manchester City in a duel of legends. Here are the details
The top Mexican football champion will play a match with Pep Guardiola's squad in the Lone Star Cup
Why is it good to bring dogs out to know the world when they are puppies
A so-called protection against the spread of diseases threatens the integral development of dogs
