JATO Dynamics: Global car sales in March 2020 totaled 5.55 million units, down 39% year-on-year

According to data from automotive data analysis company JATO Dynamics, global vehicle sales totaled 5.55 million in March 2020, down 39% from March 2019.

Total global auto sales in the first quarter of 2020 fell 26% from the first quarter of 2019, to 17.42 million vehicles.

Sales in major markets such as China, Europe and the United States all fell by double digits in March. However, the European auto market was hit the hardest, with sales in March hitting a 38-year low.

Data shows that the number of passenger car registrations in 27 European countries in March 2020 was 848,800, a decrease of 52% compared with March 2019. The region's cumulative new car sales in the first quarter fell to 3.04 million.

Among them, markets such as Italy, France, Spain, Austria, Ireland, Slovenia, Greece and Portugal were significantly impacted, with the total new car sales in these markets falling from 634,600 in March 2019 to 161,800 in March 2020. For these countries, the impact of the epidemic reached its peak in March.

The hardest hit across Europe were city cars, MPVs and subcompacts. This was partly due to the collapse of the Italian and French markets, where A and B segment registrations account for 38% of total European sales.

In terms of models, Volvo XC40 became the best-selling high-end SUV model in Europe in March, with sales down only 5%, while the registration volume of Land Rover Range Rover Evoque was 5,700, down 3%. The registration volume of Audi e-Tron and Mercedes-Benz GLE increased by 86% and 213% respectively.

By fuel type, registrations of electrified vehicles in Europe increased by 15% to 147,500 in March, setting a new market share record of 17.4%, 10.1 percentage points higher than the market share in March 2019.

Looking at the powertrain segment, only battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) drove the growth, while sales of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) fell by 11%.

In terms of absolute numbers, the sales of pure electric vehicles in Europe in March were only 10,000 units less than those of hybrid vehicles, and hybrid vehicles are gradually becoming a transitional product. This means that under increasingly stringent emission regulations, the "fuel efficiency points" brought by hybrid vehicles are no longer enough for automakers to meet regulatory requirements.

Volkswagen e-Golf, Audi e-Tron and Volkswagen e-Up achieved impressive sales in the pure electric segment in March. New cars such as Peugeot 208-e and MG ZS accounted for 17% of all pure electric vehicle registrations.

Overall, the recovery of the European auto market is likely to be U-shaped rather than V-shaped.

The U.S. auto market sold a total of 1 million vehicles in March, down 38% from March 2019, a smaller decline than in China and Europe.

Results for the rest of the world were mixed.

In contrast, the recovery trend of China's auto market is very obvious. With the full resumption of work, both production and sales have improved significantly in March. Data shows that in March, the number of domestic passenger cars insured reached 1.08 million, a month-on-month increase of 427%. At the same time, the decline in March has narrowed to only 30% compared with the 78% year-on-year decline in February.

JATO said that with the continued improvement of the epidemic and the introduction of a series of policies to stimulate the auto market, the performance of China's auto market is expected to further improve in April.

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