We have almost gotten used to the fact that cars have become prohibitively expensive and that new cars are usually delivered with enormous waiting times. But the tide seems to be turning: after months of skyrocketing car prices, the market is now threatening to collapse due to a lack of buyers.
“Now it’s getting hectic. We are in a phase in which manufacturers are realizing the difficulty of the situation and are rethinking it. You’ll notice that it’s getting less,” said Thomas Peckruhn, Vice President of the Central Association of the German Motor Vehicle Trade (ZDK), the industry journal Automobilwoche. “But then it gets tight,” emphasizes Peckruhn. Especially in the spring months, when sales are strong, demand dropped dramatically, May was particularly weak for many. The consequences of the Ukraine war, Corona and inflation unsettled buyers. “Since September, orders from private customers have been gradually declining,” says Peckruhn. “The situation is now dramatic.” It is possible that many customers are reluctant to place orders because it is not clear when the car they have ordered will be delivered. Strong decline in Austria too In Austria the number of new car registrations in the previous year was 10.3 percent to 215,050 cars. This means that fewer cars were newly registered in Austria than in the last 43 years. The trend continues towards high-horsepower vehicles, and the majority of new car buyers are still companies. The boom in SUVs continued in 2022. While the market as a whole fell by a good ten percent, the minus for SUVs was only 0.8 percent. At minus 1.6 percent, the decline in the upper middle class was also very moderate. Minivans, on the other hand, lost 24.7 percent. The three best-selling cars are… In terms of car brands, Opel’s strong minus (37.2 percent) is noticeable among the big ones in Austria. The Renault brand Dacia drove a significant increase (15.4 percent), with the discount provider leaving behind the e-car pioneer Tesla with plus 15.1 percent. The most popular car was the Skoda Octavia, although it lost a lot of feathers. The Toyota Yaris came in second and the Tesla Model Y took third place.
source site-13