2022 is still characterised by sharp falls in the total sales of new cars in Europe and is the umpteenth warning of a big change in our continental market. The persistent shortage of semiconductors, the so-called “chip-shortage”, is still creating serious problems in the production and delivery of motor vehicles and relative sales to customers requesting them. This situation underlines even more the need, for vehicle manufacturers, to be able to procure equivalent and alternative strategic components, from various suppliers, diversifying the risk of line stoppage and opening the door to new competitors, especially those located in Europe. New equivalent automotive supplies can also be supported by specialised companies like Reinova, able to guarantee rapid validations, anticipated by accelerated laboratory tests, possible thanks to modern and advanced machinery which improve the safety of the vehicles and the reliability of the production chain.
January 2022 already marked a new historic low, with only 682,596 automobiles registered in the EU. In January 2019, before the pandemic, the number of cars registered was around 1.2 million, around twice today’s number. In January 2021 there was already a fall in the market compared to the past, with only 726,491 models, and today we are registering a further fall of 8% on a monthly basis. The January number of registrations has roughly halved over the two years of the pandemic.
Analysis of the types of power supply for the whole of 2021.
In 2021 electrified hybrid cars represented 19.6% of new cars registered in the EU, while in 2020 they represented only 11,9%. Rechargeable cars, hybrid plug-ins and completely electric cars, BEVs, together reached the figure of 18.0% of total car registrations, while in 2020 they represented only 10.5%. Only 19.6% of the 2021 EU car market was diesel-powered. Cars powered by petrol resisted, with 40% of the total sold, even though the percentage was much lower than the 47.5% in 2020.
Battery-powered electric cars, BEVs, were the ones growing the most in terms of sales in Europe compared to the other types of propulsion, in 2021, with +63.4%. Sales of BEVs were well over one million, 1,218,360 cars, compared to 745,644 electric cars sold in 2020.
Over 90% of commercial vehicles are still diesel, but there are signs of change.In 2021, there were substantial differences in the motorisation of commercial vehicles compared to automobiles intended for transporting people: only 3.0% of new registered vans are electric, while hybrids represent only 1.6% (perhaps due to the poor offer available up till now). 90.2% of the total number of vans purchased in the EU market were diesel during the whole of 2021, a sign that the more traditional form motorisation is holding for these vehicles, even if there was a slight fall from 2020, in which the sales were 92.4% of the total of vans.
Vans with alternative motorisations, electric and electrified, are growing strongly but are still, in absolute terms, decidedly low. The number of new petrol-powered vans, accounting for 5.4% of registrations, increased by 20.5% compared to 2020.
Outlook for the commercial vehicle supply chain
In 2021, the absolute European demand for diesel vans grow by 6.2%, reaching 1,408,376 vehicles sold compared to a total of cars sold, in 2021, of 9,7 million. The commercial vehicles market is a very interesting specialised market which will certainly evolve, albeit more slowly, towards electrification.
Reinova is ready to effectively support its partners in the development of new components dedicated to vans and electrical and electrified commercial vehicles, with rapid tests made possible by the improved laboratory equipment today available for the automotive sector.