European new car sales down 24.1% year-on-year in June: ACEA

BERLIN (Reuters) – European passenger car sales slumped in June compared to a year ago but showed an improvement since May with the easing of coronavirus lockdown measures across the region, industry data showed on Thursday.

In June, new car registrations dropped by 24.1% year-on-year to 1,131,843 vehicles in the European Union, Britain and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, statistics from the European Auto Industry Association (ACEA) showed.

In May sales slumped 56.8% on the year.

Sales fell in all European markets except France where they rose 1.2% in June thanks to government incentives for low-emission vehicles that were introduced at the beginning of the month.

Registrations in Germany tumbled 32.3% and slumped in Spain, Italy and Portugal with drops of 36.7%, 23.1% and 56.2% respectively.

Volkswagen Group’s sales decreased by 25.9% in June, while Renault and PSA Group reported a drop of 16.3% and 29.6%, respectively.

Luxury automakers also posted a drop in June, with BMW’s sales falling 26.3% and rival Daimler down 19.2%.

In the first half of 2020, sales dropped 39.5% as the coronavirus lockdown across Europe took its tool on the industry.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)