The Dutch sold almost a record number of used cars last year. At the same time, sales of new cars fell to their lowest point since 1967. The popularity of older cars is hampering the sustainability of the Dutch car fleet, economists at ING warn on Friday.
Second-hand cars have always been popular in the Netherlands, according to experts at the bank, partly because they are not subject to purchase tax (bpm). But last year, due to major chip shortages in the car industry, it was also difficult for buyers who wanted a new one to find a car. As a result, sales of new cars fell by 9.2 percent compared to 2020 to 322,831 units. At the same time, the specialist trade and private individuals jointly sold just over 2 million used cars.
As a result, the Dutch vehicle fleet is only getting older, says sector economist Rico Luman. “The average age of cars has risen to eleven years in early 2021 and one in four cars is older than fifteen. Older cars make more kilometers than before and that slows down sustainability.” According to him, a solution to get more new electric or at least more fuel-efficient cars on the road is a special form of road pricing. For example, owners of polluting cars would have to pay more per kilometer traveled than people with cleaner cars.
ING expects new car sales to pick up this year despite persistent chip shortages. For 2022, the bank expects 370,000 new cars to be sold, 22 percent more than last year. A larger proportion of this will probably be electric than last year, helped by new subsidies for private individuals who buy plug-in cars for under €45,000.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl