EU: Passenger car market narrows 24% in January

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The EU's passenger car market shrank 24% in January compared to the same month last year as coronavirus-related restrictions continued to weigh heavily on sales across the bloc, an industry group said Wednesday.

Automobile registrations across the 27-member bloc stood at 726,491 last month, marking the lowest January total on record, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) said in a statement.

The fact that there were fewer business days this year in January than there were during the month last year in some member countries also had an impact on last month’s registrations, it added.

All 27 EU markets except France and Sweden suffered double-digit losses last month, including three of the four major ones: Spain was the hardest-hit (-51.5%), followed by Germany (-31.1%) and Italy (-14%).

France showed the best performance among major markets with a decline of 5.8% year-on-year in January.

Sweden was the sole country seeing a rise in new car registrations last month, up 22.5%.

The EU is the main automotive export market for Turkey, where top international automakers -- Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes, Renault, and Toyota -- are operating.