Enlarge image
New vehicles (archive image)
Photo: DPA
The chip crisis caused the number of new car registrations in the EU to plummet in October.
A total of 665,000 new cars were registered last month, sales fell by 30.3 percent year-on-year, said the European manufacturers' association Acea.
This was the largest fall in the EU in October since statistics began in 1990.
The decline compared to October 2020 was the fourth in a row and was significant in all major member states: In Italy, sales fell by 35.7 percent, in Germany by 34.9 percent, in France by 30.7 percent, in Spain by 20, 5 percent and in Poland by 22 percent.
According to Acea, the chip crisis is to blame, which meant that production in plants in Germany, France and Spain had to be stopped for days or longer.
"The chip crisis will lead to significant losses until the middle of next year, by then several million cars will not be built and sold - with corresponding financial consequences for car dealers, manufacturers and suppliers," said EY expert Peter Fuß.
For many suppliers, the situation was "increasingly threatening their very existence," he warned.
Expert expects a lot of catching up to be done
In his opinion, the car manufacturers will initially continue to try to adapt their production and model mix so that new vehicles with the highest possible margins are delivered.
The willingness to give discounts is decreasing.
The shortage of semiconductors is also holding back sales of the currently very popular electric and hybrid cars.
Their market share increased further in October, according to EY to a new record high of 22.1 percent in the top five markets of Western Europe.
The expert Fuß expects a "sales boom" due to the high pent-up demand - but not until mid-2022.
hej / AFP
