In December, passenger car registration in the EU decreased by 22.8% YoY, totaling 795,295 units. While in 2021 EU demand for new cars decreased only by 2.4% YoY. In Croatia in 2021 passenger car registration reported a sharp increase of 25% YoY, while in December 19% YoY increase was noted.

In December 2021, passenger car registration in the EU decreased by 22.8% YoY, totaling 795,295 units. The biggest decrease reported in the EU was in Germany, where the reported decrease amounted to 84k units, representing a 26.9% YoY decrease. Also, Italy reported a significant decrease of 33k units, representing a decrease of 27.5% YoY.

However, when observing January – December 2021, the situation is not that alarming – EU demand for new cars decreased only by 2.4% YoY, reaching 9.7m units registered in total. When observing the whole period, Germany, as the major market, reported a decrease of 10.1% YoY with total car registration amounting to 2.6m units. This decrease was partly offset by an increase in another major market, Italy. Italy reported an increase of 5.5% YoY, which is an increase of 76k units of cars registered. Spain, which is also considered a major market, remained stable and reported a slight increase of 1% YoY.

Looking at the region, when observing the whole period since the beginning of the year, Croatia reported a steep increase of 24.7% YoY, amounting to 44.9k units registered. Looking at data only for December, Croatia reported an increase of 19.3% YoY, amounting to 2.5k units registered. Slovenia reported a different kind of picture – when observing the whole period, Slovenia reported a slight stable increase of 0.6% YoY, amounting to 54k units of the car registered.