EU new car sales expected return to growth in 2022

Brussels – Passenger car registrations in the European Union (EU) are expected to return to growth, rising by nearly 8% year-on-year to 10.5 million units in 2022, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).

The growth is expected following the 8 Feb European Chip Act, which is anticipated to ‘stabilise chip supplies in 2022,’ said ACEA in a statement 8 Feb.

“Despite a record-low base of comparison due to the Covid pandemic, sales of new cars continued to decline in the EU last year because of the microchip shortage,” the announcement said. 

“ACEA is therefore urging the EU to reduce its reliance on overseas suppliers to avoid such damage to strategic European industries in the future,” it added.

Despite the strong growth forecast, ACEA noted that the estimates for this year would still be “almost 20% below the pre-crisis sales levels of 2019.”

Against last year’s backdrop of a contracting vehicle market, electric passenger cars continued to gain overall market share, now accounting for almost one in five new cars sold across the region.

“The strong performance of electrically chargeable cars is very welcome news,” said ACEA president and CEO of BMW Group, Oliver Zipse. 

However, he reminded, the ‘still fragile market’ is highly reliant on support measures such as purchase incentives and more importantly the widespread availability of charging infrastructure, as demand continues to rise.

“Electric car sales increased more than 10-fold between 2017 and 2021, whereas the number of public chargers in the EU grew by less than 2.5 times over the same period,” Zipse added. 

“If this situation is not urgently addressed by introducing ambitious targets for all EU member states, we will hit a roadblock very soon,” the ACEA official warned.