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Assembly at the Volkswagen plant in Dresden: The number of new registrations in the European Union fell by 2.4 percent
Photo: Sebastian Kahnert / dpa
Fewer new cars were registered in the European Union last year than in 2020. The number of new registrations fell by 2.4 percent to 9.7 million cars, according to the European industry association Acea in Brussels.
The year before, the pandemic had already led to a record slump in the car market.
Especially in the second half of 2021, the global shortage of microchips weighed heavily on car manufacturers, and production at numerous manufacturers stalled at times. For the year as a whole, only BMW among the German manufacturers recorded a small increase in new registrations of 1.5 percent. Market leader Volkswagen had to accept moderate losses, Daimler slipped 12.4 percent into the red.
The December figures in particular plummeted: just under 800,000 cars were newly registered across the EU, a drop of 22.8 percent compared to the same month last year.
It was the sixth decline in a row.
The largest markets all recorded double-digit percentage losses, in Germany new registrations fell by more than a quarter.
Among the manufacturers, the VW Group in particular had to struggle, whose main brand collapsed by around 40 percent in December.
Germany with a clear minus
Among the four largest markets within the EU, the numbers fell over the year only in Germany, where there was a drop of around 10 percent in new registrations.
At least they increased slightly in Spain and France, and by as much as 5.5 percent in Italy.
A total of 3.3 million fewer vehicles were registered in the EU than in the pre-crisis year of 2019.
As the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) reported in Berlin, "the lack of semiconductors in particular" has put a strain on the global supply chains.
"In addition, shortages of other preliminary products and raw materials as well as rising prices for energy and logistics are causing problems for the industry."
hba/dpa/AFP