The last quarter of 2019 was the best for the Dutch car industry, according to figures released by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on Wednesday. Turnover in the industry rose 8.4 percent in the last three months of last year compared to the same quarter a year earlier.
Over the entire year, sales in the industry increased by 3.6 percent. The sub-sectors importers and car trade and repair profited the most in the last three months of 2019, with 15.4 and 11.8 percent respectively, the CBS writes. The sub-sectors benefited in the last quarter from the favorable addition for electric cars.
The addition percentage from 4 percent in 2019 rose to 8 percent in 2020 for cars with a catalog value to € 45,000. It was therefore attractive for consumers who ordered a company car to have it delivered in December, rather than a month later. As a result, there was a substantial boost in the number of car sales at the end of last year.
Despite the higher turnover, the confidence of the car industry did fall: from -7.2 at the end of 2019, to -7.6 at the beginning of 2020. 10.5 percent of the entrepreneurs in the sector expect an increase in turnover in the first quarter. next three months. Last quarter, 26.4 percent of the entrepreneurs expressed this expectation.