Oxford, UK – The number of cars registered in western Europe in February 2022 was 710,000, according to data from LMC Automotive. This represents a 5.7% drop on the 760,000 sold in the same month in 2021.
The consultants have become more cautious following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions. 'The selling rate is anticipated to improve over the course of 2022, but at a slower rate than we forecast last month,' they said.
Downward pressure on sales from supply chain disruptions is currently being counteracted by increasing underlying demand because of inflationary pressures and increasing consumer confidence, LMC said.
Looking at the largest markets, in Germany sales were up 3.2% in February, with 200,512 registrations. Sales so far are up 5.6% on the previous year.
In the UK, year-to-date sales were up 23.0% from 2021. The February total of 58,994 cars sold is up by 15% on February 2021.
In France, the year-to-date number of registrations fell by 15.7% to 220,000m. In February this year 115,386 vehicles were sold.
Spanish sales were up by 6.6% in the month at 62,103 units. The year-to-date total is 104,480 units, up by 4.2% on last year.
In Italy, sales were down 22.6% at 110,869 units in February. A total of 220,000 vehicles have been sold there in the year to date.
The overall European automotive market has shrunk by 4.4% in 2022 so far to 1.45m units. This is down from 1.52m units at this stage in the previous year.
