Production activity in the EU automotive industry fell for the seventh consecutive quarter, by 44 percent year on year, in the second quarter of the current year. With weakening demand for new passenger cars in Europe and in key export markets such as the US, China and Turkey, the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic took an unprecedented toll on production activity in all EU countries, according to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2020-2021/Q4 2020 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER).
According to the EUROFER report, car demand in the EU continues to experience unprecedented weakness, despite restored production activity. In the third quarter this year, sales of passenger cars in the EU fell by 25.6 percent year on year. In the first nine months this year, passenger car registrations decreased by 28.8 percent year on year, but increased by 3.1 percent in September, marking the first month-on-month increase of the year, signaling a rebound in demand.
EU automotive production is forecast to be hit the most by trade-related risks, compared to all other steel-using sectors, in the course of the current year, with an annual slump of 20.6 percent predicted, followed by a rebound of 18.1 percent in 2021. In the previous outlook, these figures were 26 percent and 25.3 percent, respectively.