European car registrations plummet 52% in May

European passenger car registrations plummeted 52.3 per cent during May, according to the latest ACEA figures. Although COVID-19 lockdown measures were eased in many countries last month, the number of new cars sold across the European Union fell from 1,217,259 units in May 2019 to 581,161 passenger cars in May of this year.

Double-digit declines were recorded in each of the 27 EU markets last month, even though the percentage drops were less dramatic than in April. Spain saw the biggest decline among the four major EU markets (-72.7%), while sales fell by roughly half in France (-50.3%), Italy (-49.6%) and Germany (-49.5%).

From January to May 2020, EU demand for new passenger cars contracted by 41.5 per cent, following three months of unprecedented declines across the region. So far this year, car registrations decreased by 54.2 per cent in Spain, 50.4 per cent in Italy and 48.5 per cent in France. The contraction of the German market was slightly less severe, with registrations down 35.0 per cent over the first five months of 2020.

The results follow a similar trend seen in the UK, where May new car registrations were the worst since 1952.