Sales of new passenger cars in the European Union fell sharply in January, under pressure from the lockdowns against the coronavirus in many European countries.

According to trade association ACEA, sales shrank 24 percent from a year earlier to a total of 726,491 cars.

That’s the lowest sales ever recorded for a month of January, according to ACEA. The organization also points to a calendar effect, as January 2020 had one more working day than this year.

Sales decreased in almost all EU countries. Spain performed the worst of the major European car markets, with a minus of more than 51 percent.

In Germany sales plummeted by more than 30 percent and in Italy it contracted by 14 percent. France limited the damage to a minus of almost 6 percent.