Global new car sales in 2019 experience worst decline in 10 years

The 2019 calendar year has come to an end. The year has also marked the worst decline of car sales for the global automotive industry in 10 years.

Based on the statistics from Nikkei Asian Review, global car sales are expected to fall on a unit basis by about 4 percent. This was according to data gathered by the company, which was released on January 4, 2020. The drop was so steep that it was comparable to the drop seen during the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. Compared to 2018, the decline in sales is steeper by 0.6 percent. It also marks the second year of declines as 2017 also saw a decline in sales. 

The decrease in brand new car sales is due to low sales figures in China and in India. The slow down may also bring negative effects as the lower than expected sales in the developing world may lead to the possibility of job cuts.

Just to quantify how much of an impact China has on the global automotive market, sales from the country amount to about 30 percent of global automotive sales. Chinese car sales have slid by 9-percent in 2019 from January to November. The cause of the low sales figures can be attributed to an ongoing trade war with the U.S.

The local automotive market in China isn’t doing too well, either. Unit sales of local offerings have gone down, and U.S. and Japanese automakers are also struggling in the country.

Commercial vehicles have also seen a decline in sales in the global market. The total sales from January to November total 72.6 million units sold globally. While the numbers look impressive, it is actually a 4-percent drop from the same period in 2018. The expected sales for this segment were at 91 million vehicles. 

The automotive market did see an overall growth of about 40 percent from 2009 to 2019. This was due to the increasing demand for vehicles in developing countries. But now the growth has died down and is on a decline. The decline in sales may foreshadow an industry shakeup that could happen soon.