Car sales are expected to rebound by 7.9% in the European Union in 2022, while remaining far from their level of 2019, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said on Tuesday.
“With a stabilization in the supply of microchips”, ACEA forecasts 10.5 million passenger car registrations in 2022, after a very weak year at 9.7 million in 2021.
While the European Commission presents this Tuesday its strategy to increase its production of semiconductors (the “Chips Act”), with several tens of billions of euros of investment at stake, the ACEA asks the Union to “reduce its dependence on non-European suppliers to avoid such damage in the future”.
After a sharp drop in 2020 linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, the automotive market was paralyzed in Europe and America in 2021 by this shortage of electronic chips, especially made in Asia, and essential for the manufacture of cars that still ship more technology.
The growing share of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles
But the share of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles has continued to rise: they now account for one in five new cars sold in the EU. “It remains a fragile market, very dependent on purchase aid and, above all, the availability of a charging network,” said ACEA President and CEO of BMW, Oliver Zipse, in a press release.
While the European Commission has proposed the end of petrol and diesel cars by 2035, the European Parliament and national governments are discussing continental standards for the deployment of electric charging stations.
ACEA “urges” the European Parliament and Council to “significantly strengthen” the European Commission’s proposal, “to ensure that Europe can build a sufficiently dense charging network”.
The Commission proposed in 2021, as part of its “Fit for 55” package, that each country be equipped with at least 1 kilowatt of charging power per vehicle driving on its roads, and that charging stations be installed every 60 kilometers on the main road networks before 2026.
“Sales of electric cars increased 10 times between 2017 and 2021, while the number of charging stations in the EU grew less than 2.5 times,” said Oliver Zipse. “If we don’t introduce ambitious targets for all EU member countries, a major obstacle will very quickly stand in front of us”.