New-car sales in Europe record a plunge of 52% in March 2020

New-car sales in Europe’s major markets in March dwindled by 52 per cent, attributing to the lockdowns imposed for the containment of COVID19, showed a data on Friday, April 17.

Registrations dropped to 853,077 vehicles in the European Union, Britain, and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, marking the lowest since 1990 when ACEA started compiling data. Similar slumps have been found in China and the US as well.

April is likely to look no better as car plants have remained idle and government-imposed lockdowns aggravate the economic downturn that looks set to outstrip the 2008/09 financial crisis.

ACEA commented, "With containment or lockdown measures taking hold in most markets from around the middle of the month, the vast majority of European dealerships were closed during the second half of March."

Italy has been found to have experienced the hardest hit among all other European countries, with an 85 per cent drop in car sales. Registration in Germany tumbled by 38 per cent, in the UK 44 per cent and that in France and Spain 72 per cent and 69 per cent, respectively.

Volkswagen Group's Europe sales dropped by 44 percent, while that of Renault Group and PSA Group fell 64 per ent and 67 per cent, respectively. Fiat Group registrations plunged 74 percent.

Also, the sales of BMW Group vehicles and the demand for rival Daimler dropped 40 per cent and 41 per cent last month. BMW was among the few automakers that was reporting an increase in European sales in the previous months.

Also, the sales of BMW Group vehicles and the demand for rival Daimler dropped 40 per cent and 41 per cent last month. BMW was among the few automakers that were reporting an increase in European sales in the previous months.

In Germany, however, the government announced that dealerships in the country would be resuming today, April 20, as Chancellor Angela Merkel's government relaxed its coronavirus lockdown in Europe's biggest market.