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New registrations: The pre-crisis level remains unattained for the time being
The new car market is like the famous glass, which is half full or half empty depending on how you look at it. The good news: The market is growing rapidly this year. The bad news: Sales are still well below pre-crisis levels.
New registrations: The pre-crisis level remains unattained for the time being
The EU new car market again recorded very strong growth in April with an increase of 219 percent - but only in comparison to the extremely weak month of the previous year, which was dominated by the almost complete Europe-wide lockdown and closed car dealerships and registration offices. Compared to the pre-crisis year 2019, there is still a significant decline in new registrations of 25 percent. The same picture was seen in Austria, where new registrations doubled compared to the same month last year, but were still 30 percent below the April 2019 level.
"The enormous growth rates in April can only be attributed to the historically weak month of the previous year. In fact, the European new car market has not yet reached the pre-crisis level. The hoped-for real recovery in the EU new car market is still a long time coming," says Gerhard Schwartz, Head of Industrial Products at EY Austria. "There are increasing signs that the economy is gaining momentum, at least in the summer months - and the falling infection numbers across Europe also point to an economic recovery. However, the auto industry is now struggling with new concerns: the shortage of semiconductors is leading to significant losses in production and sales."
For the time being, the situation will remain difficult, says Schwartz: "We will not reach the pre-crisis level this year, either in Austria or across the EU. But at least: demand is currently high, the temptation to give discounts is low. Financially, the year will probably be anything but bad for the car companies."
E-cars remain growth drivers
Electrified vehicles have now established themselves on the new car market: The market share of electric cars and plug-in hybrids in the five largest markets in Western Europe (Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain) was 14.3 percent in April, after even reaching 15.3 percent in March. In Austria, the market share reached 16.7 percent in April.
“The growth momentum in electrified cars is no longer quite as strong as it was at the end of 2020, when some car companies did everything they could to achieve their CO2 targets and pushed electrified vehicles onto the market with force,” observes Schwartz. "However, delivery bottlenecks still play a major role and limit growth. In the second half of the year, the increase in sales of electrified new cars is likely to be significantly higher again - then, on the one hand, the current chip crisis will hopefully be overcome; on the other hand, more attractive new models will come onto the market. One thing is certain: there is currently a lot of interest in plug-in hybrids, but especially in electric cars - not least thanks to the generous subsidies for electrified vehicles."
Austria in the fast lane
New electrified cars are particularly popular in Germany and Austria: In Germany, more than one in five new cars (22.1 percent) could be charged at a socket, and in Austria 16.7 percent. For comparison: In Spain the market share was just under six percent.
Austria is at the forefront when it comes to purely electric cars: the market share here is currently 10.8 percent, in Germany it is 10.4 percent, and in the top 5 markets it is 6.7 percent overall. “Germany and Austria have significantly above-average market shares and are currently developing into lead markets for electromobility within the EU,” analyzes Schwartz. This has, among other things, to do with the generous funding (especially for company cars).
The plug-in hybrids, which are particularly popular in Germany, are currently showing strong growth: the number of new registrations of plug-in hybrids has risen by 249 percent in the top 5 markets so far this year compared to the same period last year, while pure electric cars have “only” increased by 121 percent. After more electric cars were newly registered as plug-in hybrids last year, plug-in hybrids are now in the lead: Since January, almost 217,000 plug-in hybrids and a good 192,000 electric cars have been newly registered in the top 5 markets. In Austria, electric cars are ahead: so far this year there have been a good 5,000 plug-in hybrids compared to a total of around 9,000 electric cars.
The growth in electrified new cars comes at the expense of the market share of pure combustion engines (petrol and diesel). This shrank from 82 to 62 percent in the top 5 markets. In Austria it fell from 85 to 67 percent.