New Car First Quarter Sales In EU Increased By 3.2% Compared To 2020 - Report

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th April, 2021) New passenger car sales in the European Union rose by 3.2% during the first quarter of 2021 to 2.56 million automobiles in total in comparison with the same period of the previous year, the European Automobiles Manufacturing Association (ACEA) said on Friday.

"During the first quarter of 2021, EU demand for new cars grew by 3.2% to reach 2.6 million units registered in total. Despite steep declines during the first two months of the year (-24.0% in January and -19.3% in February), March's strong results managed to offset the negative trend," the report said.

According to ACEA, sales in France and Italy increased by 21.1% and 28.7%, respectively. However, Germany and Spain witnessed a decrease � by 6.4% and 14.9%, respectively.

The report said that Sweden's Volvo Car Corp.

has the biggest growth in sales (26.3%) in the EU among car producers. Stellantis, the merger of Fiat and PSA Group, follows it with 9% growth. Mitsubishi and Honda showed the worst performance - 48.9% and 31.2% decrease, respectively.

ACEA said that last year negative sales changes, caused by the pandemic's start, are the only reason why early 2021 showed such positive dynamics.

According to the association's forecasts, published in February, car sales will grow by 10% in 2021, recovering from the crisis caused by the pandemic.

In 2020, the European Union witnessed the biggest yearly drop in car registrations since it began keeping records � sales decreased by 3 million unites in comparison with 2019. The hardest fall was in Spain (-32.3%), Italy (-27.9%) and France (-25.5%).