European car market "Waterloo"! Sales plunged 22 percent in December, the sixth consecutive month of decline

Affected by the epidemic and chip shortages, European car sales fell for the sixth consecutive month in December.

The European Association of Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) said on Tuesday that European passenger car sales fell 22 percent last month to 950218 units. For the full year of 2021, new car sales in Europe fell by 1.5%.

Prior to this, new car sales in Europe fell 24% year-on-year to 11.96 million units in 2020 due to pandemic restrictions, the largest annual decline since recorded in 1990.

The ACEA said:

"The decline in car sales in 2021 is the result of a shortage of chips, which has a negative impact on car production throughout the year, especially in the second half of the year."

Eu car sales rebounded strongly in the second quarter of last year, but fell by about 20 percent for much of the second half of the year, the data showed.

At present, the short-term prospects for chip supply are not optimistic. Alexander Marian of consultancy AlexPartners told AFP:

"In terms of chip supply, 2022 will continue to be very difficult at the beginning."

Automakers have been predicting for months that the shortage of chips that are disrupting the global industry will be alleviated, but now their expectations have deteriorated. Renault said last week that chip shortages would peak in the first six months of the year and then slowly improve as capacity increased. Last year, a shortage of chips led the company to cut production by 500,000 vehicles.

Germany is in adversity

By market, the French, Italian and Spanish auto markets rose slightly in 2021, but Europe's largest auto market, the German market, led the decline with a 27% decline in December, down 10.1% for the whole year, dragging down the overall European data.

The market also became the only major market for BMW and Volkswagen to experience an annual decline. As the rebound has forced the German government to reintroduce a series of restrictions, Europe's largest economy could shrink by 0.5% to 1% in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Hyundai and Toyota overcame chip shortages and achieved significant growth

Some groups outperformed the market, led by Hyundai Group.

South Korea's Hyundai Group, which includes Hyundai and Kia brands, saw the largest sales growth in Europe, reaching 1.02 million units, up 21 percent, cementing its position as the eu's fourth-largest automaker, trailing renault by just 75,000 units. In 2010, Hyundai was 400,000 vehicles behind Renault.

As Hyundai avoided severe factory shutdowns due to chip shortages and launched popular models such as the Hyundai Tucson SUVs, its market share in Europe rose from 7 percent in 2020 to 8.7 percent last year.

The Toyota Group, which includes the Lexus brand, saw sales in Europe increase by 9.6 percent to 760178 units, and its market share rose to 6.5 percent from 5.8 percent in 2020. The company has also avoided the worst of chip shortages and introduced new models including the Yaris Cross, a small Yaris Cross.

Toyota has overtaken Mercedes-Benz manufacturer Daimler to become Europe's sixth-largest automaker.

Volkswagen, Renault and Mercedes saw a sharp decline in sales and shares

Sales from europe's three major automakers all fell.

The Volkswagen Group managed to retain the top spot in the European market with sales of 2.94 million units, but sales fell by 3.7%, resulting in a decline in market share in Europe to 25%, down 0.6 percentage points from 2020.

Stellantis, a combination of Italy's Fiat Group and France's PSA Peugeot Citroen, saw sales decline slightly by 1.6 percent to 2.1 million units, and its European market share rose to 21.9 percent.

Renault Group sold 1.09 million units in Europe, significantly lagging behind the market with a 10.9% decline. The European market share fell to 9.3%, a full percentage point lower than in 2020.

BMW Group sales rose 1.3 percent to 858762 units, with a slight increase in European market share, but Daimler, which owns the Mercedes and Smart brands, saw sales fall 11 percent to 678574 units, and its European market share fell from 6.4 percent to 5.8 percent. Mercedes also lost the crown of global high-end car sales to BMW.

Jaguar Land Rover sales were 149784 units, down 6 percent. Jaguar sales fell 19 percent due to the lack of new models.

The results of other automakers have varied widely. Ford, which is exiting most of Europe's passenger car market, sold 523907 units, down 19 percent, and its market share fell a full percentage point to 4.4 percent.

Volvo sales rose 1.1 percent to 289301 units, with a flat market share of 2.5 percent. Nissan sales continued to decline, at 249232 units, down 14 percent. Mazda, which has a partnership with Toyota on emissions, saw sales rise 4 percent to 155434 units.