European Automotive Industry in the Century of Asia

Table 2.3: EU vehicle trade (in volume; 2021) Passenger cars

Other motor vehicles

Motor vehicles – total

thousand units

Change 2021/20

thousand units

Change 2021/20

thousand units

Change 2021/20

Imports Exports

3,098 5,079

1.3% 467 -0.5% 668

-29% 3,565 9.7% 5,747

-4.1% 0.6%

Source: ACEA Due to the adopted anti-pandemic measures, the production of passenger cars was limited or even temporarily suspended in many countries in spring 2020. As a result, the number of passenger cars exported this year decreased. While the economic recovery in 2021 helped the industry, the automotive sector faced shortages of certain components and supply chain bottlenecks. One-fifth of the total passenger cars exported from the EU (5,078,894) were intended for the UK. The US (12.8%) and China (8.1%) followed closely behind. In fact, the UK experienced the highest year-on-year decline in passenger car exports of all the major exporting countries, falling by 25% to 327,700 units. Another country experiencing a significant year-on-year decline in passenger car exports in 2021 was Turkey, which saw a decrease of 62.8 thousand cars (-16.5%). On the other hand, exports to China increased by 3.9%, while Ukraine (7.4%), Japan (3.8%) and Norway (24.5%) recorded even higher growth (among the most prominent EU passenger car purchasers). Table 2.4: Passenger car exports from the EU27 (in units)

2020

2021

Change -25.1%

United Kingdom

1,308,089

980,362 648,127 410,917 317,128 204,444 209,733 177,224 146,515 122,860 122,001

US

684,393 395,340 379,956 205,643 195,353 170,777 187,698 98,677 122,482

-5.3% 3.9%

China Turkey

-16.5%

Switzerland

-0.6% 7.4% 3.8%

Ukraine

Japan

South Korea

-21.9% 24.5%

Norway

Serbia

-0.4%

Source: ACEA, Eurostat In 2021, the US was the leading destination for exported passenger cars (worth a total of EUR 126.9 billion), with a share of 20.1% (worth EUR 25.5 billion), followed by the United Kingdom (17.1%) and China (16.7%). The pandemic led to a decline in the value of EU passenger car exports to virtually all major destinations in 2020.

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