New passenger car registrations in France climbed by 1.6pc to 171,049 units in October compared with 168,290 cars in the prior month, according to the Comité des Constructeurs Français d’Automobiles’ (CCFA’s) Nov 4 data.
Unsurprisingly French new car sales were 9.5pc lower compared with volumes recorded in the same month a year earlier, after government-backed scrappage schemes and sales incentives expired in July and real post-COVID-19 demand has transpired.
That said, new vehicle sales in France are likely to be once again decimated by a second initial month-long lockdown through November to curb a resurgence in COVID-19-related infections, hospital admissions and deaths.
Under new guidelines, car dealerships are closed to walk-in customers during the second lockdown and are only permitted to collect pre-ordered new vehicles from by advance appointment, according to an announcement by Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire.
That said, sales figures will unlikely fall to zero as it will still be possible to order new vehicles online or by telephone with dealerships also able to deliver new vehicles.
Car sales trend flat in Italy
New passenger car registrations in Italy climbed 0.5pc to 156,978 units in October compared with 156,132 cars in the prior month, according to data released by the Associazione Nazionale Filiera Industria Autombilistica (ANFIA) on Nov 3.
While new car sales were little changed at 0.2pc down compared with volumes recorded in the same month a year earlier, Davis Index believes Italy’s government-backed sales incentive scheme likely masked real demand in October.
The Italian government stimulus program provides €3,500 ($4,099) for scrapping vehicles that are more than 10 years old when purchasing a new Euro 6 model vehicle with CO2 emissions of up to 110g/km and priced up to €40,000.
Car dealers are obliged to contribute up to €2,000 towards the sales incentive, while the government is also offering incentives of up to €8,000 for consumers purchasing zero-emission vehicles.
More recently, however, the introduction of a partial lockdown in Italy will see the imposition of nationwide evening curfews and travel restrictions on regions deemed to be “high risk” and no doubt undermine new car orders in November.
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