Growth in September for the Western European car market (EU+EFTA+UK). The numbers speak for themselves 1,166,728 registrations with an increase of 11.1% compared to the same month of 2022. However, an unsatisfactory result according to the analysis of the Centro Studi Promotor, if we consider that in January-September the increase over the same period of 2022 was 17 %. “The slowdown in market growth in Western Europe is also due to the lack of incentives for the purchase of electric cars, particularly in German market which is the most important in the area and which in fact suffered a decline of 0.1% in September, while in the January-September period it recorded growth of 14.5%”they explain at the Study Center.
Compared to 2019?
The overall picture in Western Europe however appears positive in comparison with 2022, although it must not be forgotten that compared to the pre-pandemic levels one registration in five is still missing. The market in the area, in the period January-September 2023, still suffers a decline of 21.3% on the levels of January-September 2019. And to this we add that the ongoing recovery appears to be due above all to the substantial order book accumulated in the period in which production was severely hindered by the shortage of microchips and other essential components, while it is reported from many quarters that the collection of new orders is currently unsatisfactory to allow a rapid return to pre-pandemic levels.
Obstacles to the propensity to purchase
They are in fact having an impact on the propensity to purchase cars several negative factors. Firstly, order processing times are still particularly long, especially for the models most accessible to the general public, and secondly, the ongoing energy transition leads many motorists who are still uncertain about the type of fuel to choose to postpone purchases. Added to all this is the strong deterrent constituted by increases in car prices and in particular, as regards the energy transition, by the price level of electric cars which, without incentives, are not yet affordable for the general public. It is certainly no coincidence that in the period January-September the share of electric car registrations (which reached 15.2% in the entire area) was less than 5% in the following countries listed in decreasing order of share: Spain (4.9%), Cyprus (4.8%), Greece (4.7%), Italy (3.9%), Poland (3.5%), Czech Republic (2.8%), Croatia (2.7%) and Slovakia (2.4%). On the other hand, problems for the further diffusion of the electric car they are reported not only in Germany (where the current share is 18.1%), but also in the United Kingdom which has a share of 16.4%. In particular, in the United Kingdom it is noted that sales of electric cars are supported above all by tax incentives for fleet purchases, while private demand languishes.
More generous incentives
And speaking of electric cars – underlines Gian Primo Quagliano, president of the Centro Studi Promotor – it must be said that in all countries where the share of electric cars is significant, those generous incentives are in force which are proving to be absolutely necessary to support the take-off of electric cars. This is a circumstance that should lead the Italian Government to reevaluate ours without further delay incentive policy to the electric car.
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