The European car market fell 7.5% in January, penalized by regulatory changes.
–
The European car market fell 7.5% in January, penalized by regulatory changes, while French automakers suffered particularly, according to figures released Tuesday.
The Renault group (with Alpine, Dacia, Lada) did half as well as the average, with deliveries down 16.3%, just like its French rival PSA (Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel, Vauxhall) in drop of 12.9%, according to figures from the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA).
In total, almost 957,000 new passenger cars were put on the roads of the European Union. The four main markets were in the red: France (-13.4%), Spain (-7.6%), Germany (-7.3%) and Italy (-5.9 %).
Brexit requires, the ACEA has established for the first time its statistics for the EU outside the United Kingdom, by restating the figures for 2019 to allow comparisons from one year to the next.
The fall in January is undoubtedly the fallout from a month of December artificially inflated by the anticipation of regulatory changes that occurred with the change of year.
On the one hand, the EU is now forcing manufacturers to respect an average CO2 emissions ceiling of 95 grams per kilometer on their range, under penalty of heavy fines, in order to fight global warming.
On the other hand, several states increased car taxation on January 1, like France which implemented a sharp increase in the penalty on the most polluting vehicles.
“Major tax changes announced for 2020 by some EU member states have caused early registrations in December 2019, which explain the fall in January,” ACEA said in a statement.
“Other factors have played out, such as the deteriorating economic environment and the uncertainty caused by the UK’s exit from the EU,” added the builders’ association.
But not all brands have been placed under the same banner.
The German group Volkswagen in particular resisted well, consolidating its first place in Europe. Its registrations only fell 0.4%, allowing it to increase its market share by 1.9 points.
The Volkswagen label alone fell by 6.6%, but Skoda deliveries held up well (-1.4%), while Audi (+ 6.4%), Seat (+10.4 %) and Porsche (+ 76.4%) managed to pull up the giant with twelve brands.
–
