Oxford, UK – World car registrations in April 2020 were down 44.8% compared with the same month in 2019 at 3.97 m units, according to LMC Automotive.
In the US, sales were lower by 45.6% in April, at 0.7 m units. In the same month in 2019, US dealers sold 1.3m units.
Meanwhile, in China, according to LMC, sales hit 1.9 m units, and were flat on the same month in 2019. This the second month of growth after the market fell 80% in Febuary. The consultants said that if the rate of sales growth continued for the rest of the year, a total of 23.5 m units could be sold by the end of January.
This forecast is up from 14.8 m units in March. It is almost the same level as in April and May 2019. Nonetheless, sales declined by 33% year on year in the first four months of this year.
In Western Europe, sales were 0.3m units in the month. This is lower than the amount sold in April by 80%.
Sales in Brazil and Argentina fell to 55,000 units in the month. This compares with 258,000 units in the same month in 2019.
Looking ahead to the rest of the year, LMC suggested that the total number of cars sold in 2020 will be around 49 m units This is weaker than the March result, which was already reaching levels not seen since the financial crisis, and is indicative of the serious impact of coronavirus across the globe, it said.
