Following the news from ACEA that in May, the European passenger car market (EU+EFTA+UK) suffered another sharp drop, with new registrations falling by 57.2% on last year;

David Leggett, Automotive Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his views:

“The sharp May drop was expected and in line with our forecasts. It is bad, of course, but not as bad as April (-79.8%) which is looking like the nadir in this crisis.

“Lockdowns eased in May and we anticipate gradual improvement to new car demand in the  region over the rest of the year, particularly as purchase and scrappage incentives come into play in major markets such as France, Italy and Spain. 

“Nevertheless, we forecast that the European light vehicle market will turn out down 23.2% this year at 15.8 million units. That’s a much bigger drop than occurred during the international financial crisis of a decade ago.”