According to a report by the European manufacturers association ACEA, in 2022, global new car registrations reached more than 66 million units, as sales recovered in the last quarter of the year.

Overall, more than 68 million passenger cars were manufactured worldwide in 2022, an increase of 7,9% from a year earlier. This was nonetheless still 5,6 million units below pre–crisis production levels in 2019.

Registrations

Full-year global new car registrations thus reached 66,2 million units, aided by the easing of semiconductor supplies. However, global vehicle demand is still trending well below pre-pandemic levels, and a comparison with 2019 volumes (74,9 million units) highlights how far registrations have dropped.

Registrations in the European region declined by 10,4% during 2022 to 12,8 million units. The main factor impacting the region’s performance was the shortage of semiconductors. In addition, the war in Ukraine continued to hold the Eastern European market back, with significant declines in the countries directly involved in the conflict: Ukraine (–64,7%) and Russia (–62,7%).

Despite a slight rebound in the final quarter of 2022, full-year sale volumes in North America were down 8,7% compared to 2021, at 12,7 million units. The same trend was observed in the US, where passenger car sales contracted by 9,2% during 2022, affected by supply chain and logistics issues.

Japan’s passenger car sales were down by 5,1% compared with 2021 due to higher energy prices and the yen depreciation. On a similar note, South Korean new car registrations declined by 3,0% in 2022 compared to a year earlier. Demand in China, on the contrary, increased by 7,6% year-on-year to 21,7 million cars sold, as the withdrawal of government incentives by the end of 2022 has brought forward demand.

Last year, the demand for cars in South America increased by a modest 1,8%, with nearly 2,8 million units sold. Indian passenger car sales grew by 231% in 2022, reaching 3,8 million units. An increasing preference for personal mobility was an essential driver of this growth, says ACEA.

The European Union

Registrations of new passenger cars in the EU fell by 4,6% in 2022, mainly due to the impact of component shortages during the first half of the year.
This is the third consecutive year that registrations in the EU have declined. Although the market showed signs of improvement in the latter part of the year, cumulative volumes stood at 9,3 million units, the region’s lowest level since 1993, when 9,2 million units were registered.

The region’s negative result was reflected by the performance of three of its four most important markets, with Italy (–9,7%), France (–7,8%), and Spain (–5,4%) all posting declines during 2022. Germany was the exception and recorded a modest uplift (+1,1%), helped by its strong result in December.

Looking to 2023, the outlook for the EU car market is slightly more optimistic. New car registrations are expected to increase by around 5% this year. This would put registration volumes broadly on par with 2020 but still far below the 13 million units recorded before the pandemic in 2019.

Production

Despite an increase of 7,1% in EU car production, overall volumes in Europe fell by 1,6%, impacted by the collapse of the Russian and Ukrainian markets, down 67,4% and 79,7%, respectively. Conversely, North American car production rose by 10,3% in 2022 to 10,4 million units, primarily driven by strong demand in the US.

As lockdowns were lifted and demand strongly stimulated by government incentives, Chinese car production increased by 11,7% last year, with 23,2 million vehicles built, representing 34% or one-third of global production. On the other hand, Japanese car production remained stable at 6,6 million; South Korea rose by 7,6% to 3,43 million.

Boosted by robust domestic demand and higher consumer confidence, Indian car production reached 4,3 million units in 2022, resulting in substantial growth of 21,6%. South American volumes maintained a positive trend during the second half of 2022, with more than 2,1 million cars produced, up 9,1% compared to 2021. 1,8 million of them are made in Brazil.