German car production rises further in 2022

Production of passenger cars at German assembly lines has seen a continuous increase over the past eight months, although figures in total remain a long stretch behind those achieved prior to Covid-19.

In full-year 2022, carmakers delivered 3.4 million units, which was 11% more than in 2021, Kallanish learns from automotive industry federation VDA. The overall year-on-year increase is little surprising, given the earlier production stoppages induced by the shortage of semiconductors, from which carmaking recovered gradually last year.

December saw output of 253,700 units, up 2% y-o-y, making it the eighth month in succession in which the figure was higher than in the corresponding month of 2021. Still, in comparison with the pre-Covid year of 2019, production was still a considerable 26% lower, VDA notes. Export figures developed similarly, with an increase by 10% to 2.6m units over the full year. Compared with 2019, this means a drop of 25%.

New domestic registrations showed a different trend, rising by only 1% y-o-y to 2.7m units. Here, the insecurity over rising energy prices and the war in Ukraine caused reservation among buyers, especially in the first half. In the later course of the year, the market recovered from the initial shock, and sales rose notably. In December, 314,400 cars were newly registered, an increase of 38% over December 2021.

Christian Koehl Germany