Sales of new cars in the European Union continued to fall in December

Sales of new cars in the European Union continued to fall in December

Sales of new cars in the European Union continued to fall in December, but less than in November. Data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) showed this on Tuesday. According to the latest ACEA figures, the number of new passenger cars registered in the EU in December 2020 fell by 3.3 percent year on year to 1,031,070 units. However, the rate of decline in registrations was much slower than in November, when they fell by 12 percent, and the lowest in the whole of last year. December statistics also showed that the four largest EU markets showed very different results. While sales of new cars fell by 14.9% in Italy and by 11.8% in France, they rose by as much as 9.9% in Germany and were stable in Spain. For the whole of 2020, car sales in the EU fell by 23.7 percent to 9.9 million units. This was the steepest drop in demand in the history of these statistics. All 27 EU markets saw double-digit car sales declines in 2020. Among the largest car markets in the region, Spain (-32.3%) showed the sharpest decline, followed by Italy (-27.9%) and France (-25.5%). The German car market, the largest in the EU, also recorded significant year-round sales losses (-19.1%).