CNN: No Sign Global Car Recession Ending

Sales of automobiles dropped 4% worldwide in 2019, and there is no sign of them rising in 2020, according to CNN Business. And putting the brakes on car sales could crash more than the auto industry.

Citing a report by LMC Automotive, CNN said vehicle sales fell to 90.3 million in 2019, a drop from 94.4 million in 2018. The record high for car sales was 95.2 million in 2017.

China was hardest hit with the number of vehicles sold falling 2.3 million, LMC reported. India also saw a substantial drop in new car purchases because of a weak economy and credit crisis.

Fears within the industry are it might have hit "peak car," according to CNN, and numbers will continue to decline because consumers kicking the internal combustion engine to the curb over climate fears.

The auto industry is responsible for 5.7% of economic output and 8% of goods exports, according to the International Monetary Fund. It is also the world's second biggest consumer of steel and aluminum, CNN noted. So, even a dent affects the global economy overall.

Even with innovations like electric vehicles and driverless cars, LMC is expecting 2020 global sales to drop below 90 million.

"There is unlikely to be any real support to the global total from the mature markets like western Europe and the United States," Jonathon Poskitt, director of global sales forecasts at LMC, told CNN.

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