The European new car market is starting the year 2022 with a historic low. The already weak January of the previous year will be undercut by another six percent.
The new car registration year 2022 in the EU started like the new registration year 2021 ended - with a downward slide. As reported by the European automobile manufacturers association ACEA, only 682,596 cars were newly registered in the EU at the start of the year. That was six percent less in the already weak month of the previous year. At the same time, the January figures represent a historic low at the start of the year.
GB against the trend
The picture on the volume markets is inconsistent. The German market grew by 8.5 percent to 184,112 new registrations in January. France, on the other hand, lost 18.6 percent and only had 102,899 new registrations. The market in Italy is declining even more. Only 107,814 new cars there mean a minus of 19.7 percent. With 42,377 new registrations, Spain is one percent above the previous year. The British new car market is developing completely against the trend. In the ex-EU country, 115,087 new car registrations ensure an increase of 27.5 percent.
Toyota is growing strongly
Even if the volume brands almost all had to accept heavy losses in January, hardly anything changes in the distribution of the European car cake. The Volkswagen Group remains the market leader with a market share of 25.4 percent. The brands gathered under Stellantis can unite 20.5 percent of new car sales. At 10.9 percent, the Renault Group is only just ahead of Hyundai/Kia, which already hold 9.7 percent of the market share.,
The strongest individual brand is still VW with a market share of 11.0 percent. Toyota (8.0%) took second place with a substantial increase. Peugeot (6.9%) and Renault follow, which are on par with Skoda with 5.7 percent. Mercedes is level with BMW at 5.4 percent. Kia follows with 5.2 percent ahead of Audi (4.8%), Dacia (4.7%), Hyundai (4.5%), Ford (4.4%), Fiat 83.8%), Opel (3rd .7%), Citroën (3.6%) and Seat (3.0%).,
Conclusion
Due to the shortage of semiconductors, fewer new vehicles were registered in the EU in January than ever before. The downturn from the previous year will continue unabated in 2022.
