Press release: 12.349-189/20

Used passenger car registrations declined by 4.0% from January to September 2020

Vienna, 2020-10-15 – From January to September 2020, 638 551 used passenger cars were registered according to Statistics Austria, 4.0% less than in the same period of the previous year. During the lockdown in March (-48.7%) and April (-39.1%), used passenger car registrations fell sharply compared to the same months of the previous year, while in May the decline was already much less pronounced (-3.2%). However, in January (+3.7%), February (+0.1%), June (+26.8%), July (+8.8%), August (+6.2%) and September (+15.3%), more used passenger cars were registered than in the respective months of 2019.

Declines compared to January to September 2019 were recorded for both diesel-powered (share: 59.2%; -5.7%) and petrol-powered (including flex-fuel; share: 38.5%; -3.5%) used passenger cars. The share of cars with alternative drives rose by 54.3% to 2.3%, with the strongest increases reported for diesel-hybrid passenger cars (+145.0%; share: 0.3%), followed by petrol-hybrid passenger cars (+58.1%; share: 1.3%) and purely electric powered passenger cars (+34.2%; share: 0.6%). The number of used passenger cars purely powered by natural gas rose by 4.3%, while used passenger cars with bivalent drive powered by petrol or natural gas fell by 13.7%.

In the used commercial vehicle market, growth was recorded in the registration of tractors used for agriculture and forestry (+5.2%), lorries cat. N1 (N1 class; +4.5%) and lorries cat. N3 (+1.6%). Registrations of used articulated lorries (-11.2%) and lorries cat. N2 (-12.0%) declined.

More used two-wheelers were registered, including motorcycles (+7.4%) as well as scooters (+5.1%).

For more detailed results and further information concerning statistics of motor vehicles please refer to our website.

Information on methods, definitions: Motor vehicle statistics (registrations of new and used vehicles as well as the stock of vehicles) are secondary statistics, compiled on the basis of daily data files sent to Statistics Austria by Austria’s association of insurance companies (VVO). VVO, in turn, receives data by the insurances’ registrations offices, responsible for registrations, de-registrations and rectifications of motor vehicles and trailers. 
Within motor vehicle statistics, all motor vehicles, once nationally or internationally registered, are levied, irrespective of the registration’s duration.

For further inquiries please contact Directorate Spatial Statistics, Statistics Austria:  
Gerda FISCHER, Tel. +43 (1) 71128-7566 resp. gerda.fischer@statistik.gv.at, 
Thomas JANKA, Tel.: +43 (1) 71128-7575 resp. thomas.janka@statistik.gv.at and 
Stefan PREMM, Tel.: +43 (1) 71128-7598 resp. stefan.premm@statistik.gv.at

Media owner, producer and publisher: 
STATISTICS AUSTRIA, Federal Institution under Public Law 
1110 Vienna, Austria, Guglgasse 13, Tel.: +43 (1) 71128-7777 
presse@statistik.gv.at  
© STATISTICS AUSTRIA