Not surprisingly, the containment measures since March 17 and the closure of non-essential businesses including car dealerships have brought a real halt to the automobile market.
With only 62,668 new passenger cars, the market dropped by 72% compared to the same month of 2019.
“It's historic. We've never had a drop like this, "said François Roudier, spokesperson for the Committee of French Automobile Manufacturers (CCFA). Last year after five years of consecutive increases, the market continued to grow by 1.9%.
A plunge which should continue in the coming months. Indeed, the pursuit of containment measures, people who find themselves unemployed, forced to draw on their savings, or factories stopped for the release of new models do not argue in favor of a rapid restart.
"We will not be able to completely catch up with this drop"
“We are going through one of the most difficult tests in our history. This is also the case for the entire automotive industry, which I recall employs 15 million people in Europe, including 400,000 in France, explained Jean-Dominique Senard, the boss of Renault. We are working on different scenarios for the next few weeks. In any case, orders have dropped dramatically. Sometimes up to 90% of usual volumes. "
Under these conditions, “over the first half, we should be at -30%. That would bring us to 2020 at -20%, "continues the spokesman for the CCFA while warning:" This is a forecast with release from confinement and normal restart of activity in late April, early May. If it were to shift, the forecast could be even lower. "But anyway," he adds, "we cannot completely make up for this considerable drop." "
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In this context, no need to draw, all the builders are assigned to start with the French groups. PSA (Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel) saw its registrations of new passenger cars plummet (-73.4%), as did the Renault group (-71.6%), with Dacia and Alpine.