Vertical fall for auto sales in Europe: the decline that had been perceived in the summer months was followed by a real collapse in September when new car registrations decreased by 25,2% to 972.723 units. The average concerns the EU, the EFTA countries and Great Britain combined. In the difficult period that the car market is going through, therefore, the blockage of production due to the shortage of microchips, the indispensable electronic components and increasingly difficult to find to meet the increase in demand, is also felt. A "famine" that has forced a slowdown in production and the closure of plants with an impact on the offer of products.
The latest figures released by Acea, the European builders' association, are a real war bulletin. In the EU proper, new registrations fell by 23,1% to 718.598 units. “Last month's weak performance - says Acea - was shared by all the main European markets which recorded double-digit drops: Italy (-32,7%), Germany (-25,7%), France (-20,5 %) and Spain (-15,7%)”.
The difference is noticeable in comparison to the first 9 months of the current year when overall registrations (EU, EFTA and UK) rose by 6,6% compared to the same period of 2020, up by 7,5 million vehicles , due to the rebound in sales at the start of the year which helped keep overall volumes in positive territory.
If we then broaden the horizon and go into detail on the individual countries, in the first 9 months of the year Italy recorded the highest increase so far in the EU (+20,6%), followed by Spain (+8,8 %) and France (+8%). The German car market, on the other hand, returned to negative territory (-1,2%).
The Stellantis group (Fiat, Jeep, Lancia/Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, Opel/Vauxhall, Citroen and DS) recorded a 30,4% decrease of sales against an increase of 8,1% in the first nine months. There market share of the Italian-French group is dropped to 18,4% in September from 19,8% a year earlier. The sales trend of the Volkswagen group (Audi, Skoda, Seat, Porsche and Volkswagen itself) was similar, down by 29,7% with a decrease market share from 22,7% to 21,3%. It went slightly better for Renault (-24,2% for registrations) while Hyundai (including the Kia brand) recorded a leap +26,9% for Hyundai registrations and an increase in market share from 6,6% to 11,1%. Remains stable the market weight of BMW, Toyota grows and Daimler decreases.
