Car sales in Europe: at least one good reason to rejoice

July’s new car registration figures for Cabinet Jato fell recently. So yes, the results were always better in 2019, before the health crisis. However, there is good reason to rejoice.

One year of consecutive increase

This was squarely the subject of the press release published by the above-named company, it has indeed been a year that vehicle sales have been growing steadily. Not a single drop has been observed since August 2022. 12 months of consecutive increases, unheard of since the start of the health crisis.

Better, from month to month, the progression is accentuated. A quick look at the latest post shared by theEuropean Automobile Manufacturers Associations (ACEA) whose results stop as for Jato in July and we see it. In August 2022, registrations increased by only 4.4%. Since October 2022, we have been constantly on double-digit growth. 12.2% that month but 16.3% in November of that same year. A peak was reached last March with +28.8%. Finally, in general, the increase does not seem to want to drop below 15% since April: 17.2% then 18.5% in May and 15.2% last month.

A rebound due only to electric?

Public policies as well as the opinion pushing European consumers to give priority to electric cars have had an effect, it is undeniable. Last month, registrations of zero-emission cars jumped 62%, boosted in particular by the very good performance of the Tesla Model Y (again, +557% compared to July 2022).

It would nevertheless be wrong to believe that this is done to the detriment of thermal models. As proof, sales of petrol vehicles increased by 15% last month. Unleaded fuel cars alone still accounted for 58% of all cars sold in Europe in July. As Felipe Munoz, of the Jato firm, points out, “petrol cars are selling at the same rate as last year”.

To all those who predicted a tricky second half of 2023, due to lower orders in the first half and components still hard to find, this has not yet been confirmed in practice. Of course, you have to be careful about what may happen next. If it seems almost illusory to find at some point the results of before 2020, especially at the price that cars cost today and because many manufacturers now favor the policy of selling less but more expensively, perhaps perhaps we are more optimistic than expected for the automotive sector. To be continued.

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