EU car sales rise 9.6% on year in September: ACEA

European new passenger car registrations rose 9.6% year on year and 21.2% on the month in September to a three-month high of 787,870 units, the second consecutive month of on-year gains after 13 months of declines, data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA, showed Oct. 18.

The year-on-year jump was largely driven by the low base of comparison from September 2021, when the semiconductor shortage hampered vehicle production, ACEA said.

In September, all four of Europe’s largest markets reported growth led by Germany and Spain, which saw double-digit gains of 14.1% and 12.7% year on year respectively.

Germany’s passenger car sales of 224,816 units were also up 12.9% month on month to the highest level since March, while Spain’s 67,240 vehicles were up 29.5% from August to a two-month high.

Sales in Italy rose 5.4% on the year and 55.9% on the month to a three-month high of 110,976 units, while sales in France climbed 5.5% year on year and rose 54.4% from August to 141,137 units, also a three-month high.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed hot-rolled coil in Northwest Europe Eur30/mt lower in September, falling from Eur760/mt ex-works Ruhr to Eur730/mt ex-works Ruhr.

Over the first three quarters of 2022, the EU passenger car market decreased 9.9% on the year to 6.8 million units, despite the positive results recorded in the last two months.

This was reflected in most countries’ performance, with all the region’s four major markets also registering a contraction in the nine-month period, the ACEA data showed.

Of the top four markets, Italy saw the largest fall at 16.3% to 976,055 units, followed by sales dropping 11.8% in France to 1.1 million vehicles, sales in Germany declining 7.4% to 1.9 million units and Spain’s down 7.4% to 600,281 vehicles.

— Annalisa Villa, Jacqueline Holman