New passenger car registrations in the EU rose 12% year on year in October to 745,855 units, the third consecutive annual increase, according to European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) data released Nov. 17.
However, the volume was 5.3% lower than the previous month and nearly 290,000 units below the October 2019 pre-pandemic levels, ACEA said.
Total sales for the first 10 months of 2022 were 7.5 million units, down 8.1% year on year, the data showed.
The auto market has been facing supply issues due to the ongoing semiconductor shortage, which in turn has impacted production.
This has also somewhat impacted steel demand, with Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessing domestic HRC prices in Northern Europe at Eur625/mt ex-works Ruhr Nov. 16, 32% lower than it was at the start of 2022.
All three top European markets — Germany, France and Italy — saw year-in-year increases in October.
Largest EU car market Germany saw new car registrations increase almost 17% year on year to 208,642 units, although this was down 7.2% on the month.
German car registrations for the January-October period totaled 2.08 million units, down 5.5% on the year.
In second-largest market France, sales for the month rose 5.5% on the year, but fell 11% on the month to 124,981 units.
Car sales in Italy also climbed 15% on the year to 115,827 units, which was also up 4.4% from September to a four-month high.
January-October car sales in France totaled 1.24 million units, down 10% on the year, while sales in Italy dropped 14% to 1.09 million units.
In Spain, 65,966 units were sold in October, rising 12% on the year, but down 1.9% on the month, bringing the total for the January-October period to 666,247 units, down 5.8% year on year.
— Jacqueline Holman
