With a confirmed recovery of -4.6%

In 2022, the European passenger car (PC) market will decrease by 4.6%. The main reason given by ACEA is the lack of digital components to assemble cars that require more and more chips. 9.26 million passenger cars were registered in the EU, the worst level since 1993 when 9.2 million were registered. But in the end it is worse, because in 1993 the European Union was not what it is today in terms of countries.

However, this year-over-year decline masks a well-continued rebound. Indeed, during the month of December 2022, registrations in the EU (European Union) increased by 12.8%. After all, the increase is the fifth month in a row. Chip shortages have eased and China’s slide since exiting its “zero covid” policy is not reviving the semiconductor crisis.

Germany sees 38% registrations in December. Italy grew by 21%. Sweden, Portugal, Latvia, etc. like other secondary markets are also on the rise. France, we recall, ended 2022 sluggishly with -0.1% in December.

This big end of 2022 allows Germany to rise slightly by 1.1%. On the other hand, Italy has had a disastrous start to the year and is still at -97%. 9 of the 26 markets counted in the EU are positive for the year. Looking at the EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), Norway experienced +92% in December 2022, allowing the country to finish at -1.1%. Even the UK reaches +18.3% in December and drops to -2% in 2022.

Developments within manufacturers

Looking at manufacturers, in 2022 VW is at -5.2% with Audi the only brand to grow +5.3% (+21% with Bentley and Lamborghini). Stellantis fell sharply by 14.1%, DS by +15%, and Alfa Romeo by +27%. However, this is not enough to capture the group’s sales, as they are two “small sellers”. VW and Stellantis register 2 million.

They are the only ones. Renault group barely passes one million cars. The decrease for the group is only 4.3%, and for the Renault brand it is 15.2%. Dacia completed it with +13.8%. Dacia registered 440,193 cars and 541,493 units for Renault. Alpine, for its part, registered 2,872 A110s in Europe.

As usual, the Hyundai group is growing by 2.6% for some time. Kia rose 7% while Hyundai fell slightly. Toyota also increased its registrations by +7.7%, mostly produced by the Toyota brand (Lexus was down, but to a lesser extent). BMW fell 5% while Mercedes was stable.

What are the prospects for 2023?

If the last five months are to be believed, the European market should be off to a good start. Early 2023 should see the numbers rise perhaps in a different way. We’ll see if this catch continues over the summer or if we’ll find numbers for the end of 2022.

Experts still believe that the end of the semiconductor crisis will end in 2023. But the market will inevitably face inflation and energy crisis. If nothing else comes up, put it all back down.

European registration 2022

2022 registration by manufacturers