The European passenger car market (29 countries) fell by 4% in 2022 compared to 2021
- The European market (European Union + Great Britain + Switzerland + Norway) of passenger cars fell by 4% in 2022 compared to 2021, whereas it had already fallen by 1.5% in 2021 compared to 2020 and by 24.3% in 2020 compared to 2019. In 2022, 11,287,005 passenger cars were sold in 2022 in this region, compared to 11,775,357 units in 2021 and 15,793,245 units in 2019 which had marked a peak of registrations after the 2008-2009 crisis.
- The figures for 2022 fall back to the level of the European market of 1993. After the sharp drop in the market in 2020, due to the health crisis, there is no start to catch up either in 2021 or in 2022.
- Carmakers highlighted supply difficulties, due to the semiconductor crisis and then to the consequences of the war in Ukraine. These are indeed factors to be taken into account, but this is part of a European context where demand for new vehicles is pending. In other words, private customers and, in some cases, professional customers do not wish to renew their vehicles for various reasons (uncertain economic context, vagueness about the end of thermal vehicles, etc.).
- In addition, some mainstream carmakers have clearly chosen to put priority on vehicles with higher margins, even if it means selling fewer of them. This is reflected in particular by the end of sales of A-segment cars and by the orientation of customers towards the most expensive models. The current switch to 100% electric also plays a key role in increasingly expensive cars. The most typical case is Ford Europe, which will reduce the production volume of the Fiesta and Focus to zero to forward its production towards a 100% electric range. The consequence of this policy is a difficulty for some customers to renew their vehicle which they will have to keep longer, unless the price of electric cars drops drastically.