The market for passenger cars and SUVs is booming despite rising inflation. In the first quarter of the year, it accumulates an interannual growth of 24% to 505,421 units and now in the month of June it points to an increase of 13.26% with a total of 101,085 units sold and registered according to Ide’s self-data to which it has had access. Press Europe.
For their part, deliveries in the private channel grew by 8.5% to 38,576 units. Companies acquired 1.9% more than a year earlier, with 37,810 units, while rental firms experienced a rise of 48.8%, with 24,699 units in June.
On the private side, sales between January and June stood at 204,000 units, 15.2% more. However, in the business channel, they acquired 201,030 units in the period, 17.2% more, and those of ‘rent a car’ registered 100,391 units, 70.1% more.
Data still lower than that of the pandemic
However, the sector observes “with concern” sales to individuals, which are still a third below the rate prior to the pandemic. With this figure registered in June, six positive months are chained, accumulating 505,421 units, 24% more than the same period of the previous year, although the data is still 27% lower than the sales that were made in 2019, before of the pandemic.
For its part, registrations of passenger cars for leasing stood at 27,142 units, which translates into a 47.2% decrease in the year-on-year comparison, while between January and June the fall in this channel was 37.4 %, up to 133,629 units.
The average CO2 emissions of passenger cars sold in June stood at 117.1 grams of CO2 per kilometer traveled, 3.7% lower than the average emissions of new passenger cars sold in the same month of 2022. So far From 2023, emissions stand at 118.4 grams of CO2 per kilometer travelled, 2.1% less than the same period of the previous year.
Higher sales of commercial vehicles than industrial
Registrations of light commercial vehicles reached 15,301 units in the sixth month, representing an increase of 46.5% compared to last year. Until the month of June, the market registered an improvement of 26.6%, with a total of 72,150 units.
Regarding channel sales, companies and renters managed to grow compared to the previous year, with an improvement of 76.5% (11,137 units) and 25.6% (2,162 units), respectively. For their part, sales to the self-employed fell by 17.2%, with 2,002 units.
In June, the registrations of industrial vehicles, buses, coaches and minibuses achieved an increase of 20.7%, with a total of 2,541 units, with which in the first six months sales were reached 15,178, improving by 20.8%. the same period of the previous year. By type, industrial vehicles continue their growth streak, with 15.9% in June and 2,235 units. For their part, buses, coaches and minibuses, with 306 sales in the month, improved by 71.9%.
Less than a million units in the year
In light of these data, Félix García, director of communication and marketing at Anfac, expects that the end of the year could be around 950,000 units, 25,000 more than the most optimistic forecast that the manufacturer association had in January. In addition, he has assured that the “record” expectations for the tourist campaign have boosted the purchases of rental companies. “Purchases that have been possible thanks to precision in the supply chain of parts and semiconductors.”
“Reaching one million units came from how demand is maintained in the last four months of the year and the effect that interest rates above 4% have on the purchase decision of customers,” he stated.
For his part, Raúl Morales, communication director of Faconauto, congratulates himself on the increase in registrations in June, making a “good balance” of the first half of the year, which he considers has behaved “better than expected”. Thus, he has pointed out that the good performance is based on the improvement of supply and the increase in registrations by companies and vehicle rental companies.
“The normal thing is that the good behavior of the automotive market seen so far is also maintained for the second half of the year. Even so, we maintain that we are going to close with some 940,000 units, which means that we are still close to a 20% of what we did in 2019 before the pandemic,” he concluded.
Lastly, Ganvam’s Director of Communication, Tania Puche, highlighted that for the first time in 29 months, registrations have closed above 100,000 units per month, thanks to the fact that the factors that conditioned the production of vehicles are “leaving back”.
“In this context, in which inflation is also moderating, we ended the semester with more than half a million registrations; although, looking at the end of the year, we are cautious and believe that this good rate of the ‘rent a car’ channel It will moderate. This means that in 2023 it will again be below one million for the fourth consecutive year, specifically around 944,000 units,” he concluded.
