April registrations continue the negative trend

New car registrations in April continue the negative trend when compared with the same period in 2019. According to Faconauto and ANFAC, this month closes “one of the worst four-month periods in recent years of the economic crisis”. Registrations of passenger cars and SUVs have fallen 34.2% compared with April 2019. However, when compared with the year-to-date figures, registrations have dropped by 39.3%.

Experts maintain that the effects of the pandemic, uncertainty over vaccination, the lack of tourism, the economic crisis and even the increase in the registration tax are taking their toll on sales. The comparison with 2019 is still used because in April 2020 Spain was in lockdown and the data would not reflect the current state of the market. The private channel continues to account for the highest sales, ahead of companies.

April 2021 registrations: what is happening?

The average CO2 emissions of passenger cars registered during April stand at 127.4 grams per kilometre under the WLTP homologation cycle, a figure quite similar to the previous period. As for light commercial vehicles, 15,875 units were registered, 21.8% fewer than in 2010.

The best-selling model in April 2021 was the SeatArona with 2,979 units, followed by the SeatIbiza with 2,872. Third place went to the Peugeot2008, which registered 2,048 units. In fourth place is the VolkswagenPolo with 1,858 units, followed by the Peugeot3008 with 1,663, the DaciaSandero with 1,600 units, the VolkswagenT-Cross with 1,585 units, the SeatAteca with 1,518 units, and the HyundaiTucson with 1,506 units.

ANFAC’s Communications Director, Noemi Navas, has stated that “we are seeing constant weakness in the vehicle market, especially in passenger cars and SUVs. Sales are running at almost half the pace needed to reach a market figure of 1.3 million vehicles, a natural volume for a country like Spain.” For his part, Juan Luis Fernández, Head of Public Affairs at Faconauto, has indicated that “April puts us in a very complicated scenario, deepening the trend experienced during the first quarter of 2021. Despite the increase in sales compared with April 2020, we are very far from a ‘normal’ situation, like that of April 2019, placing us almost 40% below.”

For Tania Puche, communications director at Ganvam, “the market is very far from pre-pandemic figures and the economic consequences are clear.”