Oxford, UK – Western European car registrations in May 2022 were down by 13.1% at 850,000 units compared with May 2021, according to data from LMC Automotive. In May the previous year, a total of 970,000 units were registered.
Gloom continues for Western European car sales
Supply cannot keep up with the reduced levels of demand for passenger cars in Western Europe as consumers are holding back slightly in the light of the war in Ukraine.
LMC Automotive said: ‘We forecast the 2022 market down again against both 2020 and 2021, at around two-thirds of the levels seen in 2019, due to our baseline assumption that supply chain issues will constrain results until 2023.’
The consultants added that if the war in Ukraine continues, supply chains struggle and demand will drop further; sales could also fall because of China’s coronavirus policy.
Looking at the largest markets, in Germany sales were down 10.2% in May, with registrations at 207,199 units. In the UK, year-to-date sales were down 8.7% year-on-year. Sales hit a total of 124,394 cars in the month, down by 20.6% on the same month in 2021.
In France, the year-to-date number of registrations fell by 16.9%, with a total of 600,000 units sold there in the year so far.
Spanish sales were down by 10.9% in the month at 84,977 units. The year-to-date total is 318,488 units, lower by 11.5% on this time last year. In Italy, sales were down by 15.3% at 121,299 units in May. A total of 560,000m vehicles have been sold there in the year to date.
