EU new car sales fall due to coronavirus restrictions

Passenger-car registrations in the European Union dropped again in November, as governments in the region implemented measures to control the spread of the coronavirus, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said Thursday.

New car registrations–a reflection of sales–dropped 12% on year to 897,692 vehicles, according to ACEA.

Among the significant markets, Spain and France recorded steep drops in registrations of 19% and 27%, respectively. Italy and Germany registered declines of 8.3% and 3.0%.

In the January-to-November period, EU passenger-car registrations dropped 25.5% to 8.9 million units.

“Eleven months into the year, the impact of Covid‐19 continued to weigh heavily on the cumulative performance of all EU markets, including the four major ones,” ACEA said.