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Duisburg / Frankfurt (dpa) - In January, the car market in Western Europe crashed to a historic low.
762,525 new registrations are the lowest level since 1990, as the Duisburg-based CAR Institute reported on the basis of national registration data.
In the same month last year, which was not yet affected by the corona crisis, the number of new cars fell by 25.6 percent.
Dealers and manufacturers experienced the greatest drops in the markets of Spain (minus 51.5 percent) and Denmark (minus 45 percent).
In Germany there was just under 170,000 new registrations in January, a decrease of 31.1 percent.
Here, the value added tax, which has been increased to 19 percent, makes sales more difficult, as study leader Ferdinand Dudenhöffer explained.
The car manufacturers held back with the sales promotion and used the short-time working allowance to cut production.
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In the five largest individual markets of Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain and Spain, against the market trend, sales of fully electric cars rose by 23 percent over the year, and that of so-called plug-in hybrids by a good 100 percent.
For the second half of the year, Dudenhöffer expects a decline in demand for battery vehicles in France, where state subsidies will drop by 1,000 euros.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210208-99-348058 / 2