In February, passenger car registration in the EU decreased by 6.7% YoY, totalling 719,465 units. Meanwhile, in January – February 2022 EU demand for new cars decreased 6.4% YoY. In Croatia in the mentioned period passenger car registration reported a slightly higher decrease of 7.8% YoY, while in February only a sharp 15.8% YoY decrease was noted. Furthermore, outlook doesn’t look too optimistic – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disturbed the production of harnesses in Ukraine, used to hold together electric cabling inside of a car.

In February 2022, passenger car registration in the EU decreased by 6.7% YoY, totaling 719,465 units. The biggest decrease reported in the EU was in Italy and France, where the reported decrease amounted to 32k and 17k units, respectively, representing a 22.6% and 13% YoY decrease. To offset said decrease, Germany as the major market, reported an increase of 3.2%, amounting to 200k units,

When observing January – February 2022, the situation is quite similar – EU demand for new cars decreased by 6.4% YoY, reaching 1.4m units registered in total. When observing the whole period, Germany, as the major market, reported an increase of 5.6% YoY with total car registration amounting to 385k units. This increase was offset by a decrease in another two major markets, Italy and France. Italy reported a decrease of 21.1% YoY and France reported a decrease of 15.7%, which is a decrease of 59k and 41k units of cars registered, respectively. Spain, which is also considered a major market, remained stable and reported a slight increase of 4.2% YoY in the mentioned period.

Looking at the region, when observing the whole period since the beginning of the year, Croatia reported a decrease of 7.8% YoY, amounting to 5.8k units registered. Looking at data only for February, Croatia reported a decrease of 15.8% YoY, amounting to 2.9k units registered. Slovenia reported a different kind of picture – when observing the whole period, Slovenia reported a slightly worse decrease of 11.9% YoY, amounting to 8.1k units of the car registered.

Also, the outlook is threatened by the lack of harnesses, which is used to hold together electric cabling inside of a car, and produced mostly in Ukraine – which due to obvious reasons, does not look optimistic. Some suppliers in Ukraine have begun restarting operations, according to car manufacturers. Almost all plants used in production currently working are unable to produce at the full rate of capacity.