Global light vehicles sales fall in April

Oxford, UK – Global sales of light vehicles fell by 6.9% in April 2019 compared with the equivalent month in 2018, according to consultancy LMC Automotive.

There were substantial declines in China, a slowdown in North America and no growth in Western Europe.

According to LMC automotive sales in the were down 2.2%. year-on-year at 1.3 million units.

LMC estimates that this could mean a total of 16.4m units sold this year, down by 980,000 units on 2018.

Western European numbers were flat in April, a better performance than previous months.

Sales were down 2.2% on a year to date basis, but LMC Automotive expects the market to be more stable in the coming months.

Brexit and the US-China trade uncertainty were among the contributing factors to the slowdown.

China looks set to sell 23.6 million light vehicles this year, according LMC Automotive.

This estimate is down 1.1 million vehicles on the consultant’s March estimate.

Consumers, LMC said, are waiting to see if the Chinese government will introduce stimulus measures to boost the market.

A new emission standard, due for 2020 implementation is also confusing the market situation, said LMC.