German Car Sales Up In April But Market Still Strained

New car sales in Germany surged in April compared to last year but remain well below pre-pandemic levels as a shortage of microchips continues to stifle production, official data showed Wednesday

Frankfurt, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th May, 2021 ) :New car sales in Germany surged in April compared to last year but remain well below pre-pandemic levels as a shortage of microchips continues to stifle production, official data showed Wednesday.

A total of 229,650 new cars were registered last month in Europe's largest car market -- 90 percent more than during the same month last year, the KBA transport authority said.

But the jump was not unexpected given that in April 2020, car dealerships were closed and production halted under measures to curb the first wave of Covid-19 in Germany.

Sales were still 19 percent lower than in April 2019 and even represented "the second lowest volume in April since German reunification" in 1990, the VDA auto industry federation said.

Production in April 2021 was about 22 percent lower than two years ago, according to the VDA.

New car sales in Germany had already posted their worst first-quarter performance since national reunification.

The slump was partly due to shortages of semiconductors, which are slowing car production worldwide and are not expected to ease any time soon.

As a result, the VDA has revised down its forecast for car production in 2021 from 4.2 million to 4.0 million units -- an annual increase of 13 percent.

A total of 886,102 new sales have been registered since January -- an increase of 7.8 percent year-on-year but still 16 percent below average.

"The recovery of the passenger car market continues to be a long time coming," said Reinhard Zirpel, president of the VDIK car importers' federation.

However, given the constraints of the pandemic and the semiconductor issues, "the current figures do not reflect the true potential of the market", he said.