SUVs drive growing market
Sales of SUVs have accounted for more than half of total monthly new-car registrations in Europe for the first time, as the market continues to recover from the worst of the global semiconductor shortage.
The European new car market registered a total of 907,000 units in January, up 11 per cent when compared with 820,000 in the same month last year, according to automotive market research company Jato Dynamics.
These results also mark an improvement from January 2021 when global economies were recovering from the impact of Covid-19.
However, volume continues to lag pre-pandemic levels when registrations totalled 1.13 million units in February 2020 and 1.22m in February 2019.
Felipe Munoz, global analyst at Jato Dynamics, says: “We are seeing positive signs, but not enough to take the market back to the position it was in before the pandemic hit. The reality is that we might never see sales at that level again.”
January’s growth was largely driven by SUVs, which sold 464,900 units. This was up 14 per cent compared with January 2022 and gave the segment a market share of 51.3 per cent.
Registrations of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) or pure electric cars, increased by 14 per cent over the same period to more than 92,700 units.
Munoz notes that growth for such vehicles has slowed when compared with 2022. “Without affordable options from OEMs or more attractive incentives from governments across Europe, it seems that demand may be close to reaching a peak.”
Volkswagen was the top marque in Europe during January as it registered 99,790 units, which was 17 per cent more than in the same month a year ago.
It was followed by Toyota on 71,737 units, Skoda with 50,845, Mercedes-Benz on 50,532 and Audi with 48,018, with all those brands enjoying double-digit percentage increases year-on-year.
The Dacia Sandero led the models’ chart thanks to strong demand in France and Italy as it clocked up 20,836 sales.
Volkswagen’s T-Roc was second with 17,754 units, while Toyota’s Yaris and Yaris Cross took out the next two spots with 16,004 and 15,825 registrations, respectively. The Renault Clio completed the top five on 14,146 units.
