Europe Car Sales Plunge 26% in Worst January Total on Record

  • Registrations fall the most since May amid virus restrictions
  • Carmakers also facing production outages due to chip shortage
Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg
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Car sales in Europe slumped to a record low for January as coronavirus lockdowns again shook the continent’s biggest markets.

New-vehicle registrations plunged 26% to 842,835, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said Wednesday, cutting short a reprieve of smaller declines toward the end of last year. Spain led the drops among major markets with a 52% fall, while sales in Germany fell by almost a third.