The car market in China has recovered enormously now that ‘normal’ life has resumed there. The consequences of the corona crisis are quickly absorbed in sales there. Volkswagen expects a less rosy picture for Europe.
In China, car sales collapsed when the corona virus there led to a strict lockdown. Meanwhile, in the country where the virus first appeared, life is picked up again and Volkswagen sees that in the sales figures. Reuters news agency notes that there is a ‘V-shaped’ recovery. People do not see exactly the same question as it was before the virus outbreak, but there even seems to be more interest in a private car than before: “It seems that people prefer individual mobility, because they currently want to avoid public transport”, says VW Group Sales CEO Jürgen Stackmann. Jetta, which is especially intended for China, is particularly popular, he reports. The fact that there are still many people in China who do not have or did not own a car can also play a role, he says.
So it seems that the recovery in China is now about as fast as the decline during corona, hence the V shape. For Europe, Stackmann thinks that things will not go so well in the near future. “Europe will recover more in two phases. We expect it to take much longer, more in a ‘bathtub shape’.” A longer period with marginal recovery and ultimately a real revival in the long term. Stackmann expects hard-hit countries such as Italy, Spain and France to climb slowly out of the valley.