The worst January ever

The worst January ever

The semiconductor shortage still has the automotive industry firmly in its grip. And it is a stranglehold, as the current sales figures document: In January 2022, fewer new vehicles were registered in the EU than ever before! At 682,596 vehicles, the monthly figure was six percent below the previous record low from January 2021, as the industry association Acea has now announced. Compared to January 2020, there is even a decrease of 29 percent, as the experts from EY emphasize in an analysis. 

In Austria, however, new registrations rose by 10.5 percent to 15,619 cars. Some Eastern European markets also saw nice increases - these were particularly strong in Slovakia and Romania, with increases of 72.6 and 55.5 percent, respectively. 

In the major EU markets of Italy and France, however, almost a fifth fewer new vehicles were registered than in the same month last year. A bright spot was Germany, where 8.5 percent more new cars were registered. 

Apart from the very different development of individual markets, one thing is particularly noteworthy: there is no lack of demand, so the crisis in the car market is not an economic crisis, but a very special one. 

"Demand remains high and the order books are full due to the accumulated inquiries of the last two years - if the manufacturers were able to deliver, significantly more new cars could be sold," explains Axel Preiss, Head of Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility at EY: "The problems in the supply chain, in particular the shortage of semiconductors, are enormous. We are actually dealing with a historic crisis." The fact that cars are actually “hotly sought after” is clearly demonstrated by both the high demand and the rising prices for used cars. 

The chip crisis is also slowing sales momentum in the market for electrified new cars: sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids rose by 32 percent in the five largest markets in Western Europe (Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain) in January. For comparison: growth in the entire previous year was 74 percent. With an increase of 34 percent, Austria is marginally above the average of the top 5 markets. 

The growth momentum for plug-in hybrids was particularly slowed down: sales only rose by eleven percent in the top five markets in January, while pure electric cars increased by 59 percent. The situation is similar in Austria, where around 17 percent of new cars were plug-ins, while 46 percent were purely electric cars.

In a comparison of the major car manufacturers, Stellantis in particular had to give up in January. Compared to the previous year, Peugeot, Opel and Citroën cars were newly registered 15.1 percent less frequently. Hyundai was able to make significant gains with vehicles from its brand of the same name and Kia: Here the number of new registrations rose by around 28.7 percent.

Incidentally, EY expert Preiss does not expect any improvement for the first half of 2022, and he also predicts, at best, hesitant growth at a continued low level for the rest of the year. “The chip crisis will probably still be the dominant topic in the automotive industry in 2023.” In addition to the current chip shortage, according to Preiss, there are other factors, such as geopolitical tensions, high inflation and the high price of fuel.