Sales of new cars decreased by 264 thousand in December compared to last year. This year, the decline reached 1.54% yoy . The smallest decline was seen in Iceland (53.9%) while sales in Ireland dropped the most (-82.4%). Volkswagen Group sold the most cars in December 2021 in Europe, some 223 thousand vehicles representing 23.5% of the European market.
December’s fall in the car registrations marked the sixth consecutive month of decline. Overall in 2021, sales of new cars in the EU fell by 2.4% to 9.7 mil units and were still 3.3 mil units below pre-crisis sales in 2019.
In December, most vehicles (228 thousand) were sold in Germany (down 26.9% yoy), followed by France (158 thousand, down 15.1%), the United Kingdom with 109 thousand cars (down 18.2%), 86.7 thousand new vehicles were registered in Italy (down 27.4%) and 86.1 thousand in Spain (down 18.7%). The five largest countries accounted for 61.1% of total new vehicles registered in December 2021.
In relative terms, sales in Iceland (+53.9%) and Croatia (+19.3%) declined the least compared to a year ago, whereas registration in Ireland and Lithuania dropped the most (-82.4% and -58.0% yoy), in December 2021, according to ACEA.
Volkswagen Group sold the most cars in December 2021 in Europe, some 223 thousand vehicles representing 23.5% of the European market. Sales of PSA Group amounted to 132 thousand vehicles (or 13.9% of the market) while Renault Group and Hyundai Group held 11.8% and 7.90% of the European market in December. Overall, the five largest manufacturers sold 64.3% of all new cars in December.