If the industry is to rebound following the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, it will look more like a marathon than a race. Take Germany for example, where dealerships were allowed to start selling cars again after April 20, yet overall sales still slumped 61 percent.
The total number of units moved for the month of April was 120,840, spurred by dealerships being closed for nearly three weeks, as reported by Autonews Europe.
All car manufacturers registered losses in terms of volume, except for Tesla, whose sales actually grew by 10 percent to 635 units. The American EV-maker sells most of its cars online, and doesn’t require customers driving down to a showroom in order to pick up their new vehicle.
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Meanwhile, German brands saw new registrations continue to drop, according to data released by the KBA transport authority.
Opel sales were down 73 percent, Mercedes was down 71 percent, the VW Brand slumped 64 percent, while BMW registered a 50 percent drop for the month. As for other brands, the likes of Hyundai declined by 69 percent, Honda 73 percent, Ford 62 percent, Mazda 75 percent, while Daimler’s Smart brand fell 94.1 percent.
What these numbers tell us is that Germany reopening its car dealerships did not have a noticeable effect on sales, with VDIK exec Reihard Zirpel stating that April saw “an unprecedented market collapse,” as customer demand for new cars almost disappeared due to uncertainty.
Still, other top European markets had an even worse month than Germany. Sales in Italy were down 98 percent in April, with UK sales dropping 97 percent and French registrations down 72 percent.
