Automotive Exports March 2021

Car sales in
pandemichit
2020 help
Turkey rank 6th
in Europe
The pandemic year of 2020 saw Turkey
jumping in overall auto sales rank in Europe
as the only country with sales in positive
territory.
Measures to restrict the coronavirus
pandemic hit sales in most of the
continent’s largest markets, bringing the
biggest yearly drop in car demand since
records began.
Car sales in the European Union, Britain
and the countries of the European Free
Trade Association (EFTA) fell 24.35% yearon-year
to 11.96 million in 2020, according
to data from the market evaluation
report by the Automobile Manufacturers’
Association (ACEA).
Some 15.8 million vehicles were sold over
the course of 2019, according to the data.
In contrast, Turkey saw the sales jumping
57.5% year-on-year to 610,109 units, the
data by the Automotive Manufacturers
Association (OSD) showed.
The figure also helped the country jump
to rank sixth in Europe, up from its rank as
ninth in 2019.
Croatia posted the highest yearly drop with
42.8%, followed by Bulgaria and Portugal
with 36.8% and 35%, respectively.
Spain posted the biggest drops among
Europe’s largest markets with sales falling
32.3%, while Germany reported a narrower
fall of 19.1%.
Sales in Europe’s other major markets such
as France and the U.K. were down 25.5%
and 29.7%, respectively.
Italy fell by 27.9% year-on-year, while sales
in the Netherlands and Belgium dropped by
19.5% and 21.5%. Czech dropped by 18.8%
and Poland was down by 22.9%.
On a monthly basis, European sales in
December declined for the third month in
a row.
New car registrations dropped by 3.7%
year-on-year in the month to 1.215 million
vehicles, the ACEA data showed. The same
figure was 1.261 million in 2019.
Sales in Europe’s five largest markets
posted different results. Registrations in
the United Kingdom, France and Italy fell
by 10.9%, 11.8% and 14.9%, respectively,
while Germany recorded a rise of 9.9% and
sales in Spain remained unchanged yearon-year.
Croatia again posted the highest drop with
49.5%, followed by Slovenia and Bulgaria
with 47.6% and 40.3%, respectively.
Ireland saw a skyrocketing rise of 168.3%
year-on-year in the month. Sales in Norway
and Denmark were also up by 82.8% and
46.8%, respectively.
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