European car sales are in the red for the fifth month in a row, according to figures from trade association ACEA. Last November, the number of cars sold fell by no less than 20.5 percent compared to the same month in 2020. This makes it the worst November since 1993.
There is as yet no light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to European sales figures. The month of November is already the fifth month in a row this year that car sales are in the minus. With 713,346 cars sold, the loss compared to November 2020 is no less than -20.5%. With that, the month of November reached a new low in Europe after 28 years. The biggest culprit? The ongoing chip shortage.
The overall decline is mainly due to the largest markets. Germany recorded -31.7 percent, Italy and Spain came in at -24.6 percent and -12.3% respectively. The Netherlands also achieved an unsatisfactory drop of -17.5 percent. France managed to limit the November damage somewhat by -3.2 percent. The only European markets that did record growth were Bulgaria, Ireland and Slovenia.
At the beginning of this year, the European car market was still doing relatively well, but the bad months are now taking their toll on the annual figure: for the first 11 months of the year, total sales with 8,904,900 cars stood at -0.04 percent compared to the same period in 2020. That is saying something, because 2020 was not a very good year for car manufacturers thanks to the pandemic. However, the year so far has been good for the EV. This is apparent, for example, in the medium-sized SUVs, where the electric powertrain has even become most popular.
Hyundai big winner
Volkswagen will remain close to the top in November with a market share of 21.4 percent of European sales, because Stellantis claims a larger piece of the pie with 21.3 percent, relatively speaking. In absolute numbers, the market share for both groups fell, because in November 2020 Volkswagen and Stellantis still recorded a share of 25.7 and 22.1 percent respectively.
The big winner of the month is the Hyundai Group, which saw its market share increase from 6.5 to 9.8 percent. The Koreans are also the only ones with pluses in sales: compared to last year, Hyundai sold 28.8 percent more cars in Europe last month, Kia amounts to an increase of 13 percent.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl