Europe Car Sales Drop Most on Record in Year Bedeviled by Virus

(Bloomberg) -- European car sales plunged the most on record last year as relatively resilient demand in the second half did only so much to make up for the collapse during the initial outbreak of Covid-19.

New-vehicle registrations fell 24%, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said Tuesday, the biggest annual drop since records began in 1990. A strong finish to the year for Volkswagen AG and PSA Group limited the industrywide decline in December to just 3.7%.

Carmakers managed to better cope with government measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus as the year rolled on, helped by subsidies and dealers embracing online-ordering tools. But the collapse in sales in March, April and May proved difficult to come back from, with the industry managing a single month of growth all year. By contrast, China’s auto market expanded throughout the second half.

Electric vehicles were a rare bright spot among the malaise, with BloombergNEF estimating that Europe’s plug-in hybrid and battery-only vehicle sales exceeded China’s for the first time. The researcher expects 1.9 million to be sold in 2021, roughly 40% of the global market.

Bloomberg Intelligence also has predicted that hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery-powered autos would exceed sales of diesel cars in the fourth quarter for the first time.

Total registrations in December rose 8.2% for VW Group and 1.7% for PSA, Europe’s two top-selling carmakers, the ACEA said in a statement. Sales fell 15% last month for Daimler AG, 16% for Renault SA and 9.5% for BMW AG.

By country, deliveries expanded 9.9% in Germany and were little changed in Spain in December, while registrations in Italy and France both declined by double digits.