AUTOMOTIVE STUDY 2025 / Šaroch (ed.) et al.

2 AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY IN THE EU

2.1 EU and global production capacities e production of motor vehicles in the European Union has returned to a growth trajectory after the downturn that resulted from the business crisis that peaked in 2009 and then in 2012 and 2013. However, the sector faced stagnation in 2018 and 2019 and even experienced a decline in some large member economies. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the automotive industry, like many other sectors, has experienced signi cant challenges. Restrictions and restrictive measures taken at national level have led to a signi cant slowdown or even a complete halt in production in some months of 2020, resulting in a 23.5% year-on-year decline in passenger car production in the European Union compared to 2019. In the case of the total number of motor vehicles produced in the European Union in 2023, i.e. including light commercial vehicles, trucks or buses, there was a 12% year-on-year increase, bringing production to 14.3 million units. EU motor vehicle production thus grew at its fastest pace in a decade. Global car production also grew by around 11% in 2023, the highest annual increase since 2015. Passenger cars account for 87.3% of all motor vehicles produced in the EU in 2023. An interesting statistic on motor vehicle production concerns the United States of America, where the share of passenger cars within the total number of motor vehicles is much lower (roughly 16% compared to 87% in the EU or 86% in China) than in other major economies. is is due to the great popularity of light commercial vehicles (light-trucks) in North America (which are not counted in passenger cars), and in terms of the powertrain used in these light commercial vehicles in 2023, they were 76.9% internal combustion engine, with hybrids in second place at 13.5%, pure electrics at 7.2% and plug-in hybrids at 2.4%. For more on the car market in North America, see omas H. Klier, James M. Rubenstein 2024. In 2023, China produced 26.1 million passenger cars, roughly 13.5 million more than the EU. e number of vehicles per thousand inhabitants also gives us some idea of the level of vehicle production. In the European Union, 31.9 motor vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants there were in 2023, practically on a par with the United States (where the gure was 31.7). Compared to Japan (72.3 motor vehicles produced per 1,000 inhabitants) or South Korea (82.1), this is less than half. In China, however, it is only 21.4 motor vehicles produced per 1,000 inhabitants.

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