ACEA: EU automotive gross sales anticipated to drop once more this 12 months; auto makers name for pressing coverage motion

With the EU automotive market anticipated to shrink by over 1 / 4 this 12 months in comparison with pre-pandemic 2019 ranges, the European Vehicle Producers’ Affiliation (ACEA) is asking for a coverage framework that allows the market to each get better and make the shift to zero-emissions.

“To make sure a return to development – with an excellent higher share of electrical car gross sales so local weather targets could be met – we urgently want the best framework situations to be put in place,” mentioned ACEA President and CEO of BMW, Oliver Zipse, throughout an ACEA reception final evening.

“These embrace higher resilience in Europe’s provide chains, an EU Essential Uncooked Supplies Act that ensures strategic entry to the uncooked supplies wanted for e-mobility, and an accelerated roll-out of charging infrastructure.”

“The final years have been marked by main occasions like Brexit, the coronavirus pandemic, semiconductor provide bottlenecks and the conflict in Ukraine, with its affect on costs and availability of vitality,” Zipse continued. “All of these items underline how shortly, how profoundly and the way unpredictably our world is altering. This is applicable not least within the geopolitical context – the place there are direct penalties for our globally interconnected trade and its close-knit worth chains.”

The affect of those challenges is mirrored in latest EU automotive gross sales figures. Eight months into 2022, total volumes contracted by virtually 12% to succeed in some 6 million new vehicles offered. Thus far, the market was solely constrained on the provision facet as ongoing element shortages constrained manufacturing volumes. Nonetheless, demand may endure over the approaching months on account of inflation and fears of recession.

With all these elements in thoughts, ACEA has now revised its preliminary forecast that the EU automotive market would return to development in 2022. As an alternative it expects that it’ll shrink once more this 12 months, slipping by 1% to 9.6 million items. In comparison with the 2019 pre-pandemic figures, this represents a drop of 26% in automotive gross sales within the area of simply three years.

“Regardless of the contracting market and stress from inflation and vitality prices, the auto trade continues to take a position massively in R&D and within the expertise and applied sciences driving the inexperienced and digital transition,” defined ACEA’s new Director Normal, Sigrid de Vries.

“Such an enormous transformation can solely be efficiently achieved by an trade that continues to be aggressive effectively into the long run. That is additionally strongly depending on the best political framework situations,” de Vries added.

SOURCE: ACEA