First Semester 2020: new car sales in the European Union, UK, and EFTA countries contacted by 40%, with June 2020 sales down 24%.
January to June 2020: New passenger vehicle registrations in the European Union (EU), United Kingdom, and EFTA countries contracted by 38%. German remained the largest single-country car market in Europe but more cars were sold in France during the first half of 2020 than in Britain. In June 2020, new car sales were down by just less than a quarter with France the only country with positive sales growth — sufficient to sell more cars for the month than in Germany.
European Car Market Statistics 2020: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
European New Car Market in 2020 (First Half)
New passenger vehicle registrations during the first half of 2020 in Europe (including the EU, EFTA, and the UK) contracted by 39.5% to 5,1010,669 cars — more than 3 million less than were sold during the same period in 2019.
In June 2020, new car sales in Europe were down by 24.1% – an improvement over the 57% contraction in May and the 78% near-collapse in April 2020.
New Car Sales per European Country in 2020 (Half Year)
New passenger vehicle registrations in the European Union, EFTA, and the UK according to the ACEA were as follows during the period January to June 2020:
| Country | Jan-Jun 2020 | Jan-Jun 2019 | Jan-Jun 2018 | % 20/19 |
| AUSTRIA | 112,787 | 175,909 | 192,861 | -35.9 |
| BELGIUM | 216,605 | 310,488 | 331,369 | -30.2 |
| BULGARIA | 10,161 | 18,323 | 18,082 | -44.5 |
| CROATIA | 17,423 | 38,216 | 38,279 | -54.4 |
| CYPRUS | 4,913 | 6,578 | 7,651 | -25.3 |
| CZECH REPUBLIC | 95,029 | 128,498 | 143,784 | -26.0 |
| DENMARK | 88,418 | 122,245 | 120,726 | -27.7 |
| ESTONIA | 9,133 | 13,933 | 14,190 | -34.5 |
| FINLAND | 47,385 | 60,277 | 69,612 | -21.4 |
| FRANCE | 715,798 | 1,166,442 | 1,188,150 | -38.6 |
| GERMANY | 1,210,622 | 1,849,000 | 1,839,031 | -34.5 |
| GREECE | 36,570 | 65,557 | 62,312 | -44.2 |
| HUNGARY | 55,674 | 74,543 | 70,748 | -25.3 |
| IRELAND | 52,884 | 80,707 | 87,116 | -34.5 |
| ITALY | 583,960 | 1,082,197 | 1,121,649 | -46.1 |
| LATVIA | 6,569 | 9,485 | 9,070 | -30.7 |
| LITHUANIA | 16,821 | 23,491 | 15,966 | -28.0 |
| LUXEMBOURG | 20,793 | 31,123 | 30,655 | -33.2 |
| NETHERLANDS | 158,161 | 226,482 | 252,988 | -29.9 |
| POLAND | 179,821 | 278,332 | 273,045 | -35.4 |
| PORTUGAL | 64,848 | 128,595 | 134,561 | -49.6 |
| ROMANIA | 49,616 | 71,620 | 60,068 | -30.7 |
| SLOVAKIA | 34,015 | 52,075 | 51,891 | -34.7 |
| SLOVENIA | 28,005 | 39,847 | 41,677 | -31.9 |
| SPAIN | 339,853 | 692,472 | 734,671 | -50.9 |
| SWEDEN | 125,685 | 167,882 | 225,543 | -25.1 |
| EUROPEAN UNION (EU) | 4,281,549 | 8,183,562 | 8,449,689 | -38.1 |
| ICELAND | 4,193 | 7,283 | 11,883 | -42.5 |
| NORWAY | 59,224 | 78,209 | 76,745 | -24.3 |
| SWITZERLAND | 103,201 | 157,136 | 157,910 | -34.3 |
| EFTA | 166,618 | 242,628 | 246,538 | -31.3 |
| UNITED KINGDOM | 653,502 | 1,269,245 | 1,313,994 | -48.5 |
| TOTAL (EU + EFTA + UK) | 5,101,669 | 8,426,190 | 8,696,227 | -39.5 |
| Source: ACEA |
New Car Sales per European Country in 2020 (June)
New passenger vehicle registrations in the European Union, EFTA, and the UK according to the ACEA were as follows during June 2020:
| Country | June 2020 | June 2019 | % 19/20 |
| AUSTRIA | 26,676 | 32,529 | -18.0 |
| BELGIUM | 49,141 | 50,044 | -1.8 |
| BULGARIA | 2,283 | 3,255 | -29.9 |
| CROATIA | 4,168 | 8,232 | -49.4 |
| CYPRUS | 947 | 1,183 | -19.9 |
| CZECH REPUBLIC | 20,771 | 21,902 | -5.2 |
| DENMARK | 17,936 | 20,711 | -13.4 |
| ESTONIA | 1,602 | 2,424 | -33.9 |
| FINLAND | 8,023 | 10,539 | -23.9 |
| FRANCE | 233,814 | 230,964 | +1.2 |
| GERMANY | 220,272 | 325,231 | -32.3 |
| GREECE | 8,249 | 13,133 | -37.2 |
| HUNGARY | 10,355 | 13,575 | -23.7 |
| IRELAND | 1,009 | 1,408 | -28.3 |
| ITALY | 132,457 | 172,312 | -23.1 |
| LATVIA | 1,272 | 1,612 | -21.1 |
| LITHUANIA | 2,674 | 4,520 | -40.8 |
| LUXEMBOURG | 4,648 | 5,199 | -10.6 |
| NETHERLANDS | 24,926 | 41,026 | -39.2 |
| POLAND | 35,797 | 45,050 | -20.5 |
| PORTUGAL | 11,076 | 25,305 | -56.2 |
| ROMANIA | 10,161 | 14,082 | -27.8 |
| SLOVAKIA | 7,502 | 9,396 | -20.2 |
| SLOVENIA | 6,565 | 6,967 | -5.8 |
| SPAIN | 82,651 | 130,513 | -36.7 |
| SWEDEN | 24,747 | 31,830 | -22.3 |
| EUROPEAN UNION (EU) | 949,722 | 1,222,942 | -22.3 |
| ICELAND | 824 | 1,359 | -39.4 |
| NORWAY | 11,443 | 15,352 | -25.5 |
| SWITZERLAND | 24,477 | 28,391 | -13.8 |
| EFTA | 36,744 | 45,102 | -18.5 |
| UNITED KINGDOM | 145,377 | 223,421 | -34.9 |
| TOTAL (EU + EFTA + UK) | 1,131,843 | 1,491,465 | -24.1 |
| Source: ACEA |
The only European car market with sales growth in June 2020 was France (+1.2%) taking it ahead of Germany. Government incentives in France boosted the market while the expectation that the German government would announce incentives encouraged buyers to postpone purchases. The German government’s announcement to only encourage low emission vehicle sales will have a limited effect on total car sales but at least removed uncertainty from the market.
Largest New Car Markets in Europe in 2020 (Half Yar)
New car sales in all European countries were lower during the first six months of 2020 compared to the first half of 2019. Finland and Norway were the top-performing markets and the only two countries where sales were down by less than a quarter. Croatia and Spain were the worst-performing markets with the new car market half the size from a year ago.
Germany remained by far the largest new car market in Europe with sales just stronger than the EU average. Car sales in Germany were down by just over a third during the first half of 2020.
France moved ahead of the UK as the second largest new car market in Europe thus far in 2020. While car sales were down 39% in France, the British new car market nearly halved. It was a similar situation in Italy while in Spain new car sales were actually down by more than half.
New car sales in Belgium and Poland were down by around a third while the Netherlands and Spain performed relatively better. However, it is the second first semester in succession that car sales in Sweden contracted by 25%. Austria slipped one rank position with sales down by 36%.
See also: 2020 (Half Year) Europe: Best-Selling Car Brands and Manufacturers — the VW Group and Volkswagen brand gained market share.
