Germany saw new car registrations drop by 40% in June, Tagesspiegel newspaper reported, quoting industry association VDIK, putting Europe’s largest market on track for reaching a 31-year low, Report informs, citing Reuters. 

In an article in Friday’s paper, Tagesspiegel quoted the head of the International Carmakers’ Association as saying that 220,000 new cars were registered in June, in calendar-adjusted terms a 40% fall over June 2019.

According to the association head Reinhard Zirpel, the number of new vehicles registered in 2020 was expected to fall 20% over the previous year to 2.8 million. The last time so few cars were sold was 1989 - the year of German reunification at the end of the Cold War.