Market: Less decline in used cars

Professor Stefan Bratzel, head of the Center of Automotive Management in Bergisch-Gladbach and last year's speaker at the "Day of Swiss Garagists," expects the European car market to slump by 21 percent. Instead of 15.8 million new cars as in 2019, only 12.5 million would be sold in 2020.

Auto-Schweiz assumes that 240,000 cars will still be newly registered in Switzerland in 2020 (2019: 311,000), a decline of around 23 percent.

Less decline in used cars
But not every Swiss garage owner has been equally affected by this slump. The decline in the number of used cars has been far less severe, as René Mitteregger from the data specialist Auto-i-Dat has determined.

While 67.2 percent fewer new cars were sold in April due to the closure of the sales and showroom areas, the decline in used cars was only 37.5 percent. Although idle times were slightly higher than before Corona, this had no impact on prices.

René Mitteregger: "Personally, I expect that prices for used cars will tend to rise. With the supply problems of the manufacturers, good used cars are becoming scarce."

The Autoscout24 market index quotes an average price of 26,708 Swiss francs for used cars in April; in February, the figure was 25,367 Swiss francs.

Direct effects due to crisis
Maurice Acker, National Sales Director at AutoScout24, attributes this 5.3 percent increase to the Corona crisis.

Maurice Acker: "We know from previous crises that inexpensive vehicles can also be sold in extraordinary situations, while expensive cars tend to stay put for longer."

However, Acker expects the price level to fall again slightly towards the fall, when more vehicles will be sold in general.

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