BERLIN, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- September was the first month in more than two years to see a "simultaneous growth" in sales of passenger cars in Europe, the United States and China compared with the same month last year, the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) announced on Friday.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the implemented measures continued to affect international automobile manufacturers as all markets were still "significantly in the red," VDA stressed.
For the current year, 7.8 million less new cars were sold in the three "major regions" -- Europe, the United States and China -- compared to the same time last year, according to VDA.
Passenger car sales in the Chinese market showed the biggest monthly increase of eight percent to almost 2.1 million new vehicles in September. VDA noted that this was already the fifth consecutive month of growth in China, with total sales in the first three quarters reaching 13.1 million passenger cars.
For the first time this year, car sales in Europe in September picked up again slightly, with 1.3 million new vehicle registrations, an increase of one percent compared with last year.
The five largest individual markets in Europe showed a different picture. While Italy and Germany grew strongly by ten and eight percent respectively, France and Britain ended the month just below the volume of the same month of last year at minus three and minus four percent, according to VDA. Car sales in Spain even plummeted by 13 percent compared with last year.
According to VDA, the light vehicle market for cars and trucks in the United States grew by six percent to 1.3 million new vehicles in September, the first time since February that monthly figures improved. Enditem
