European car market loses 5.1 % of registrations in June
In the EU, EFTA and the UK the contraction was 0.9 per cent in the first half of the year - All big players in the negative, Stellantis lost 12.3 per cent volume
2' min read
2' min read
The European car market slowed down in June, with registrations in the Western European area (EU+EFTA+UK) down 5.1% to 1.243,732 million, while in the first half of the year the result was negative by 0.9%. Looking at the EU area alone, the drop is even more significant, down 1.9% since the beginning of the year, but mitigating the contraction is the good performance in the UK where registrations are up 3.5% since January.
Generally speaking, as highlighted by the Centro Studi Promotor directed by Gian Primo Quagliano, among the five largest markets in the area, only Spain and the United Kingdom grew in the month (+15.2% and +6.7%), while France lost 6.7%, Germany 13.8% and Italy 17.4%.
Against this backdrop, the main manufacturers did worse than the market, with Stellantis dropping 12.3% for the month and 9.1% for the half-year, while Volkswagen posted a negative June (-6.1%) but floated in the half-year and closed at +2.3%. To get to the first plus sign among manufacturers, we have to go to BMW, which grew 8.2% for the month and recovered 3.9% from January.
Among the big European players, the Renault Group, orphaned of CEO Luca De Meo, contained the damage in June (-0.6%) and maintained a positive trend in the half-year, with growth of 5.4%, exceeding the 10% market share. Among the Asian countries, Hyundai and Toyota also lost ground, -8.7% and -12.9%, while among the emerging countries, Tesla continued its crisis, losing a third of its volumes in Europe in the half-year and dropping from 2.4% to 1.6% market share, while the Chinese of Saic Motor suffered a setback in June, -16.6%, while maintaining a positive trend since January, however, with 18.8% and a market share of over 2%.
In general, the situation that emerges from a comparison between the pre-pandemic situation (2019) and the current one remains worrying, with a gap of 19.1%. A crisis, according to Gian Primo Quagliano, triggered by European policies, which jeopardises the future of the car against competition from Chinese manufacturers, for example.
