Market: Traders hope for catch-up buying
EXPECTATIONS Just 9382 new passenger cars hit the roads of Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein last month, 67.2 percent fewer than in April last year. A shock. In order to avert even greater damage from the vehicle industry due to the Corona crisis and to secure jobs, the salesrooms of the brand dealers must reopen as planned on May 11 [...]
In order to avert even greater damage to the vehicle industry due to the Corona crisis and to safeguard jobs, the salesrooms of the brand dealers must be allowed to reopen as planned on May 11 (AutoSprintCH reported).
Bottlenecks for alternative drives
Since the start of the lockdown in mid-March, around 800 fewer cars than usual have been registered on an average working day. The high proportion of alternative drive systems in the first quarter of 21.2 percent is encouraging.
However, both demand and supply availability for electric cars and plug-in hybrids are likely to be affected over the course of the year. This situation could mean that purchases in the coming months will tend to be made in favor of less expensive models without electric motors.
Uncertainty with catch-up purchases
It is not only for passenger cars that monthly new registrations are usually higher than the annual average, but also for commercial vehicles.
Christoph Wolnik, Media spokesman for the Association of Swiss Importers auto-schweiz: "Every deal that a dealer has not made in the spring is almost impossible to make up for later in the year. From today's perspective, we cannot yet estimate whether there will be any catch-up purchases later in the year."
Expected sales 240 000
The revised market forecast by auto-schweiz for new passenger car registrations in 2020 now stands at 240,000, which would represent a decline of around 23 percent compared with the previous year. With such an overall result, 2020 would be the worst car year in four and a half decades.
