Global car sales are is beginning to pick up pace in the second half of the year following a significant decline in H1, according to German Association of Automobile Industry (verband der automobilindustrie—VDA).
This increase has been driven by demand renewing post-COVID-19 lockdowns, with some credit going to governments around the world adopting measures to promote their auto industries.
In the first seven months of the year, vehicles sales plummeted by 35pc in Western Europe to 5.8mn new vehicles sold from the same period in 2019. In July alone, vehicles sales declined by 2pc to 1.2mn cars from July 2019. Car sales in the UK rose by 11pc in July, followed by France and Spain at 4pc and 1pc, respectively, compared to July 2019. However, Germany and Italy reported that car sales declined last month by 5pc and 11pc, respectively, from July 2019.
In the US, the vehicle sales market declined by 22pc to 7.7mn vehicles sold through the first seven months of the year over the sae period last year, out of which car sales were down by 34pc, and light truck were down by 17pc. Last month, the US light vehicle market saw a 12pc drop in vehicle sales to 1.2mn new vehicles sold compared to July 2019.
In the first seven months of 2020, according to the VDA data, China had an 18pc decline in vehicle sales to 9.3mn cars sold compared to the same period in 2019. However, the country’s car market has grown by 9pc over the last three months, with vehicle sales hitting 1.6mn in July.
The Indian car market saw a 43pc annual decrease to 993,800 vehicles sold in the first seven months of the year, while July sales only dipped by 4pc to 182,800. Japan’s vehicles sales also decreased by 19pc to 2.2mn cars sold in the first seven months of the year. Its July car sales dropped by 13pc to 330,800 cars sold.
Brazil’s light vehicles sales between January and July declined by 34.4pc to 928,700 cars sold. In July, car sales in Brazil fell by 20pc to 163,400 cars sold compared to July 2019.