New car and van registrations remained low in November. Reasons for this include the coronavirus crisis and the semiconductor shortage.
The latter is hitting the German passenger car market particularly hard. According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority, new car registrations fell by a good 31 percent compared to the same month last year. Sales in the important private sector, in particular, continued to decline. New registrations in this segment fell by 33.4 percent compared to the previous year, according to market research firm Dataforce.
High sales figures from the previous year mitigate the loss
However, the published figures need to be put into perspective. While registration numbers did decrease compared to 2020, last year's figure of 115,000 units was also above average. In previous years, the average was between 90,000 and 95,000 units.
The registration rate is being further depressed by declining dealer registrations. These fell by a substantial 37 percent in November, thus drastically reducing the supply of nearly new and nearly new vehicles.
The shortage of semiconductors is particularly noticeable in the commercial sector. Deliveries to these customer groups fell by almost 30 percent, and car rental companies received around 29 percent fewer vehicles.
Sales of vans also declined noticeably. Deliveries fell by 35 percent overall. Sales to commercial customers dropped by around 29 percent. According to Dataforce, this trend is expected to continue into December.
The electrical sector continues its advance
Unsurprisingly, new registrations of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) bucked the general trend, rising by 39 percent compared to November 2020. Particularly noteworthy, according to Dataforce, is that BEVs and PHEVs together reached a market share of 40 percent in the private sector for the first time.
