The European car market is expected to record a historic 25% drop this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) estimated in its new forecasts, Reuters reports.

If in January ACEA bet on a limited decrease of 2% of the car market in the European Union in 2020, after six consecutive years of growth, it currently relies on 9.6 million new cars registered this year in the EU, the lowest number registered after 2013 and at the same time a historical decrease of over three million units compared to the 12.8 million cars sold in 2019, according to Agerpres.

“Given the unprecedented collapse in sales, there is an urgent need for purchase incentives and scrapping schemes across the EU to create much-needed demand for new cars,” said ACEA’s CEO , Eric-Mark Huitema.

According to ACEA, the EU car market has shrunk by 41.5% since the beginning of the year to date due to the isolation imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, but ACEA estimates that the situation would improve slightly after the restrictions are lifted.

The exact extent of the possible return remains unclear as some carmakers such as Volkswagen AG and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV are preparing to report disappointing results for the second quarter. In the US, the Ford Motor Co. has already announced that it expects losses of five billion dollars between April and June 2020.