Car sales to increase but concerns remain
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.
With chip supplies expected to stabilise in 2022, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) now forecasts that passenger car registrations in the EU will return to growth this year, rising by 7.9% to reach 10.5 million units.
However, this would still be almost 20% below the pre-crisis sales levels of 2019. In light of the European Chips Act to be published on February 8, ACEA is urging the EU to reduce its reliance on overseas suppliers to avoid such damage to strategic European industries in the future.
Electrically-chargeable cars continued to gain overall market share, now accounting for almost 1 in every 5 new cars sold across the European Union.
Oliver Zipse, ACEA president and CEO of BMW Group, said: “The strong performance of electrically-chargeable cars is very welcome news.
