European Automotive Industry in the Century of Asia

sales as well) in 2018 was strongly influenced by the newly adopted WLTP legislation (effective from September 2018), which encompassed the Worldwide Harmonised Light-duty Vehicles Test Procedure - a comprehensive and demanding emissions and fuel consumption test procedure - and RDE (Real Driving Emission). WLTP replaced the existing New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) test procedure. All newly registered cars had to comply with this procedure from September 2018, which proved to be quite time-consuming for car manufacturers. As a result, sales increased before September 2018 (+31.2% year-on-year), and registrations fell after that period (-23.5% year-on year). However, despite the significant decline in the year’s final months, 2018 saw a very slight increase of 0.1% to 15,159,336 passenger cars. The modest increase in new passenger car registrations in the European Union (+1.2%, including registrations for the UK) continued in 2019 to 15,340,188 passenger cars. In 2020, the number of new passenger car registrations in the European Union declined to 9,939,000 passenger cars (excluding the UK, which was no longer part of the EU), or 11,570,000 passenger cars if the UK registrations were included. In 2021, a slight decline was followed by 9,700,000 newly registered passenger cars in the European Union. In 2021, the number of newly registered passenger cars in the European Union continued to fall (9 700 356), with a decrease of around 2% compared to 2020. In 2020, the number of newly registered passenger cars in the EU fell by a quarter from 13 028 000 to 9 939 000 passenger cars. All EU Member States recorded a decline in new registrations in that year. In 2022, new passenger car registrations fell further to 9,256,000. Almost all leading economies experienced a decline compared to the previous year, except Germany, where the number of newly registered passenger cars increased slightly by 1.1% compared to 2021. In the EU, registrations fell by 4.6%, with Spain down 5.4%, France by 7.8% and Italy by 9.7% (Czechia was down 7.1%). Fig. 2.3: New passenger car registrations in the EU (in million units)

Source: ACEA

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