Spanish new car sales climbed 4.9pc to 74,228 units in October compared with 70,729 cars in the prior month, according to Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Automóviles y Camiones (ANFAC).
In a statement released on Nov 3 along with the data, ANFAC commented that a government-backed scrappage and sales incentive scheme as part of “Plan Renove,” which became fully effective on Oct 20, will prevent new registrations from plunging further (on an annual basis) for the rest of the year.
The association noted that the government stimulus program has sufficient funding (€250mn) to promote car sales through the scrapping of vehicles that are more than 10 years old for the remainder of 2020.
The government has implemented evening curfews and travel restrictions between affected regions, but the “limited” restrictions may not have as detrimental an impact on new car sales compared with those imposed in France or Italy.
Spanish new car sales stood 21pc lower in October compared with pre-COVID-19 sales volumes of 93,954 units in the same month last year.
One of the largest contributing factors being that car rental companies have delayed renewing their fleets in response to international travel restrictions and a decimated tourism industry.
Car registrations climb in Germany
New car registrations in Germany climbed by 3.4pc to 274,303 units in October from 265,227 units in the prior month, according to Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) data released on Nov 4.
The German government’s second month-long partial lockdown imposed recently is unlikely to have as much of a detrimental impact on vehicle sales compared with the initial lockdown in March and April since car dealerships remain open in November.
That said, social distancing measures and heightened economic uncertainty may prompt some consumers to delay purchases of big-ticket, steel-intensive items, such as vehicles and white goods.
Elsewhere, a Germany-based ferrous scrap processor commented that they had witnessed a material reduction in yard inflows since the partial lockdown was introduced.
Davis Index anticipates that domestic steel consumption and ferrous scrap generation will be negatively affected until restrictions are fully lifted.