Europe's car market is still lagging behind

According to a forecast by the management consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the car markets in China and the USA will again reach the pre-Corona level this year, while Europe will remain well below it. In contrast to the USA and China, where the recovery is in full swing, the Europe's car market is still 25 percent behind 2019 sales by April. The German auto industry is still confident, said PwC industry expert Felix Kuhnert. The corona vaccinations and the lifting of the lockdown "lead to increasing optimism, which the new car registrations in the coming weeks and months will likely reflect," said Kuhnert. "The German automotive industry is looking positively towards the second half of the year and is expecting a strong increase in sales figures, among other things, thanks to new e-models." In Europe, PwC expects the passenger car market to grow by 10 percent compared to 2020. This is still 18 percent behind the level before the crisis. For Germany, PwC expects 4 percent growth this year compared to the previous year and thus 16 percent fewer new registrations than in 2019. In China, on the other hand, the reported monthly market figures are almost exactly at the level of 2019 and "thus show a complete recovery of the market". In the country, however, it is not the actual sales figures to end customers but the deliveries to the trade that are published. In the United States, government support programs sparked a run on car dealerships and set a historic sales record in April. However, the shortage of microchips is also holding back car production in the USA. PwC is expecting 14 percent growth there in 2021 compared to the previous year. The sales figures would be only 3 percent below those of 2019.