European new car sales down 78.3% in April: ACEA

(C) Reuters. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Madrid

BERLIN (Reuters) – European passenger car sales slumped in April as the first full month with restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic across the continent dragged sales to a record drop, data showed on Tuesday.

In April, new car registrations dropped by 78.3% to 292,182 vehicles in the European Union, Britain and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, statistics from the European Auto Industry Association (ACEA) showed.

Sales recorded a double-digit fall in all EU markets, with Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain – hit particularly hard by the pandemic – reporting the biggest drops of 97.6%, 97,3% and 96,5% respectively.

Registrations tumbled by 61.1% in Germany and 88.8% in France.

Volkswagen Group’s (DE:VOWG_p) sales decreased by 75% in April, while Renault (PA:RENA) and PSA Group (PA:PEUP) reported a drop of 79.5% and 82.4%, respectively.

Luxury automakers also posted a drop in April, with BMW (DE:BMWG) falling 69.7% and rival Daimler (DE:DAIGn) slumping 80.1%.

Major European car makers have started reopening plants and resuming partial production in May but low demand has pushed automakers like Volkswagen to pause production for some models.