The EU passenger car market recorded a dramatic 55.1% year-on-year drop in registrations of new vehicles in March as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the European auto manufacturers’ association, ACEA, said Friday. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Register Now “With containment/lockdown measures taking hold in most markets from around the middle of the month, the vast majority of European dealerships were closed during the second half of March,” ACEA said. “Consequently, demand across the region fell by more than half last month, dropping from 1,264,569 units registered in March 2019 to 567,308 units.” All 27 EU markets contracted in March, but Italy took the biggest hit, with registrations falling by 85.4% to 28,326 new cars. Likewise, demand also collapsed in France (72.2%) and Spain (69.3%) last month; Germany recorded a less extreme drop than the other key markets, but registrations still […]