EU passenger car market off to bad start in 2020

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Demand for passenger cars in EU countries in January narrowed by 7.5% on a yearly basis, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) reported on Tuesday.

"Major taxation changes announced by some EU member states for 2020 pulled registrations forward into December 2019, explaining this January drop," said an ACEA report.

It cited weak global economic conditions and Brexit as other factors for the decline.

The group said new car registrations last month amounted to 956,779 units, down from 1.03 million in January 2019.

The largest decrease of 13.4% was in France, followed by Spain (7.6%), Germany (7.3%) and Italy (5.9%).

According to the ACEA, the VW Group, whose major car brands are Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat, and Porsche, had the lion’s share with 26.6% of all passenger car sales in January.

The PSA Group -- Peugeot, Citroen, and Opel -- and the Renault Group followed with 16.6% and 9.6% of car sales, respectively.

In 2019, over 15.3 million new passenger cars were sold in the EU, an annual increase of 1.2%.