Unlikely Lada Percentage Sales Winner For April, But Tesla Beats A Decimated Field

Surveying the debris of the Western European car market for April, the star performer was an unlikely Lada, according to official data from ACEA, but in fact the biggest winner was Tesla
TSLA
, which doesn’t appear in these statistics.

Lada, a Russian subsidiary of Renault, boasted the most impressive performance in a month where sales were obliterated by coronavirus lockdowns. But that’s not saying much because details of April’s performance, where sales fell nearly 80% and most brands recorded falls of between 70 and 90%, showed Lada sales declined only 48.6 % from a minute 208 to a miniscule 107.

The data came from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, known by its French acronym ACEA. The totals for the national markets had been known for a couple of weeks, with Germany down 61.1%, France off 88.8%, and Italy and Spain enduring falls of 97.6% and 96.5%.

ACEA announced details of the sales on Tuesday, and most brands save Lada recorded falls of significantly more than 70%.

According to Berlin-based auto analyst Matt Schmidt (www.schmidtmatthias.de) ACEA-non member Tesla was the best performer in Western Europe in April, with sales down 38% to 2,737 compared with the same month of 2019.

Tesla was helped by its unique marketing system, which bypasses dealers and relies on online ordering, while traditional car and SUV retailers were mostly shutdown for the month.

S&P Global Ratings says European sales in 2020 will be at the lower end of its down 15 to 20% prediction. Earlier this month Moody’s Investors Service had a much bleaker outlook for Western Europe, predicting sales will fall 30% this year to 11.4 million. Moody’s said sales will accelerate 7.5% in 2021.

Western Europe includes all the big markets like Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain, which dwarf the markets of eastern Europe.