Car sales in the Netherlands will experience the greatest recovery of the past 50 years in 2021. ING economists predict that the number of cars sold this year will rise 10 percent after the sharp decline in 2020. The RAI Association and the Bovag are also optimistic. At the same time, the auto industry will continue to feel the effects of the corona crisis.
In 2020, the number of new passenger car registrations fell by 20 percent to 356,000 copies. Factory closures meant that cars could temporarily not be delivered, showrooms had to close and consumer demand for new cars was low. ING economists predict that approximately 390,000 new cars will be registered this year. This means that the Dutch car market is not yet back to its old level, because the average number of license plate registrations for new cars was 435,000 cars per year over the past ten years. Trade associations Bovag and RAI are going along with ING in their expectations for 2021, but are even more positive. They predict that 400,000 new cars will be registered this year.
According to ING’s economists, the rising demand for new cars in 2020 is mainly due to the fact that consumers put their need for a new car on the back burner in 2020. Now they still want this. It is also expected that the demand for affordable electric cars in particular will increase sharply. On the other hand, working from home is hitting demand for business lease cars and fewer people will be able to afford a new car if unemployment continues to rise in the coming year. That is why it will take some time before the Dutch car market is back to its old level, or so is the expectation.