Sales of new cars declined 3.6% in Germany in April. The fall in Europe’s biggest national car market underlines the fragility of the recovery to car demand in Europe that took hold in the second half of 2013.
Analysts point out that the recovery to car sales in Europe is off a low base and consumers remain cautious.
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The German KBA said that 274,097 passenger cars were sold last month, 3.6% below the same month in 2013. However, for the first four months of the year car sales in Germany totalled 985,850 units, 2.9% above last year.
Last year’s April result for Germany was relatively strong (it saw the market climb to a SAAR over 3m units), so it’s a high base for the year-on-year comparison. Also, the timing of Easter and number of working days will have been a factor.
The KBA said that more than a quarter (25.6%) of last month’s German car sales were in the compact class.
