In December 2021, passenger car registrations across the European Union declined by 22.8% to 795,295 units, marking the sixth consecutive month of decline, according to the latest ACEA figures.
In December 2021, passenger car registrations across the European Union declined by 22.8% to 795,295 units, marking the sixth consecutive month of decline. Most of the region’s markets faced double-digit drops, including the four major ones: Italy (-27.5%), Germany (-26.9%), Spain (-18.7%) and France (-15.1%). The only EU car markets that expanded last month were Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia and Slovenia.
Overall in 2021, sales of new cars in the EU fell by 2.4% to 9.7 million units, despite the record low base of comparison of 2020. In line with the market performance in the UK, this fall was the result of the semiconductor shortage that negatively impacted car production throughout the year, especially during the second half of 2021.
Looking at the full year for the four major EU markets, only Germany posted a decline (-10.1%) in 2021. By contrast, Italy saw the highest increase (+5.5%), followed by Spain (+1.0%) and France (+0.5%) with modest growth.
