Data published by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) showed that in January new car registrations in the European Union fell by 6% to 682,596 units, which was a new historical low for the first month of the year. However, the rate of decline slowed sharply compared to December (-22.8%). Economists had expected a fall by 19%. ACEA reported that the continued decline in new car registrations is due to the continuing shortage of semiconductors.
According to the report, if assessed regionally, car sales growth was recorded in various Central European markets in January, with Slovakia (+72.6%) and Romania (+55.5%) showing the largest increase, while Poland recorded a decrease by 10.2%. As for Western Europe, almost all countries reported a drop in new car registrations. Italy and France recorded declines by 19.7% and 18.6%, respectively, while Germany and Spain reported increases by 8.5% and 1%, respectively.