Car sales increase in the EU in October

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) has announced the new automobile registration data for the EU countries for October.

Accordingly, new automobile sales, which were 664 thousand 861 in October last year, increased by 12.2% in the same month of this year to 745 thousand 855. Thus, new automobile sales carried their rise on an annual basis for the third consecutive month.

In September of last year, especially chip shortages had reduced vehicle production and sales in Europe. The rise in October of this year was due to the base effect of last year.

Despite the decrease in chip shortages, the increase is not considered a trend reversal due to the decrease in cumulative orders. It is stated that new orders are not strong due to uncertainties regarding economic activity.

While automobile sales still haven't reached the pre-coronavirus level, the increases in August, September and October were not enough to compensate for the weakness in the previous months.

Compared to the same period last year, automobile sales among EU countries were 16.8 percent in Germany, 14.8 percent in Italy and 11.7 percent in Spain.

Among the 27 EU member states, Germany had the highest number of new cars in September. During this period, 208 thousand 642 new cars were registered in Germany, 124 thousand 981 in France, 115 thousand 827 in Italy and 65 thousand 966 in Spain.

New vehicle registrations in the EU decreased by 8.1 percent in January-October 2022 compared to the same period of the previous year, to 7 million 529 thousand 965.

According to the manufacturers, VW Group sold the most new cars in the EU in September with 190,205.

Stellantis Group followed VW Group in new vehicle sales in EU. Stellantis Group, which includes brands such as Peugeot, Fiat, Citroen and Opel, sold a total of 141,500 cars.

Renault Group took the third place with 76 thousand 916 cars, while Hyundai Group took the fourth place with 68 thousand 313 units.