European car market started 2020 with a 7 percent drop

Sales of cars fell by 7.4% in Europe in January and reached 1 million 135 thousand 116 cars. As noted in the European Association of Automobile Manufacturers (ASEA), tax changes announced by some EU member states for 2020 partially overshadowed the demand for December 2019, which largely explains the January drop in sales.

In the previous month, purchase activity was also affected by weakening of global economic conditions and the uncertainty caused by Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. As noted in a review of the European car market in January, among automakers, Volkswagen sold the largest number of cars in the European Union – 133,616 cars (-6.4%). Peugeot is the second with 74,297 cars (-9.2%). Renault is the third one, which sold 67,320 cars (-6.7%). Toyota (66851 units, + 8.9%) and Mercedes-Benz (65020 units, -1.4%) finished the top-5.