Oxford, UK – West European car registrations in September 2020 were flat at 1.20 m units compared with September 2019, according to data from LMC Automotive.
The consultants said the boost from post-lockdown pent-up demand and incentive support across the continent has lost steam. The increasing risk of a major second wave of coronavirus sweeping through the region is already weighing on consumers' minds.
This led to a very mixed picture across the continent. Looking at the largest markets, in Germany sales were up 8.4% in September, with registrations at 265,227 units. This kept the year-to-date figures in negative territory. Sales so far in 2020 are down 25.5%.
In the UK, sales were down 33.2% year-on-year at 328,000 cars in the month. September is an important month for car sales in the UK because of new registration plate numbers, and LMC analysts described the monthly sales figures as disappointingly low. Activity was promising at the start of the month, but new local lockdowns and further uncertainty around jobs seems to have suppressed any consumer optimism.
In France, year-on-year registrations fell by 28.9%, with a total of 1.2 m units sold there in the year so far. Spanish sales were down by 13.5% in the month, at 70,700 units.
Meanwhile, in Italy sales were up by 9.5%, reaching a total of 156 thousand units in September. A total of 960,000 vehicles have been sold there in the year to date.
