Economy 19 January 2022, 9:07am

These are the best and worst performing car brands in Europe in 2021

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After the crash caused by the coronavirus pandemic, most players expected a strong rebound in the automotive sector in 2021. However, dramatic global chip shortages, supply chain problems, soaring transport costs and skyrocketing raw material and energy prices have shattered these optimistic expectations. The car market of the European Union continued to shrink last year instead of growing as hoped, with sales of cars in the crucial region falling below 10 million for the second year in a row. The latest statistics from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) also reveal the best and worst performing car brands in 2021.

Over a matter of months, the global chip shortage has become the most pressing problem facing the automotive industry, with virtually no player left whose operations were not negatively affected to a greater or lesser extent last year. Temporary factory shutdowns of shorter or longer duration have become commonplace around the world in 2021, resulting in significant production losses for leading car manufacturers. This was exacerbated by supply chain problems, a massive increase in transport costs and a significant surge in manufacturing costs, which ultimately led to a spectacular double-digit increase in the price of new cars. All this has, of course, had a negative impact on new car sales in the European Union:

According to the latest statistics of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), only 9.7 million cars were registered last year, which marks a 2.4% decrease over 2020, a year of extraordinary challenges.

ACEA has not yet published its sales expectations for this year, but it is already clear that market players are facing difficult times. The global chip shortage will certainly remain with us this year, causing further disruption to production in the first half of 2022, with any relief possible only in the second half of the year. Production difficulties, tightening emission and safety standards, the stabilisation of transport costs at extremely high levels and volatility in energy and raw material prices could lead to further price increases for new cars.

New car sales drop on the most important market

The weak performance of the European Union was also affected by the fact that new car sales in Germany, the largest car market, fell for the second consecutive year. In 2021, the shortage of chips used in the automotive industry and, a year earlier, stringent measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic brought about a sharp drop in sales.

only 2.62 million new passenger cars were registered in germany in 2021, a drop of 10.1% over 2020.

As regards the final sales figures, it is also worth noting that last summer the VDA (Verband der Autoindustrie), the German Association of the Automotive Industry, estimated that 3.15 million cars could be sold in Germany in 2021. This expectation was significantly undershot by the actual sales figures.

the other key car markets of the eu, italy, spain, and france, also showed hardly any growth in new passenger car sales last year.

The Croatian car market was the best performing EU member state in 2021, with sales up by almost 25% compared to 2020. We need to highlight, though, that the Croatian car market is marginal, with only a few tens of thousands of units sold annually. The weakest performer last year was the Lithuanian car market, with just over 31,000 new cars registered in 2021, a 22% drop compared to 2020.

We should also address the performance of the Hungarian car market in 2021.

a total fo 121,920 new passenger cars were registered in hungary last year, which corresponds to a 4.8% decline over 2020, a year of extraordinary challenges.

The latest sales figures undershot even those that the Hungarian Association of Motor Vehicle Importers (MGE) had revised downwardly earlier. The MGE had previously estimated that 126,000 new cars would be registered in Hungary in 2021.

Best and worst performing car brands of 2021

The Volkswagen Group sold nearly 2.44 million cars in the EU last year, down 4.8% yr/yr. It is important to note that sales of the top brands all fell: Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi all sold fewer cars than in 2020. However, Seat and Porsche sales increased last year.

Stellantis, born out of the merger of PSA and FCA, has retained its second place in the ranking of the largest European car manufacturers in 2021, which it regained from Renault in 2017. At the same time, sales of the Franco-Italian group fell by 2.1%, driven by the poor performance of key brands such as Peugeot, Fiat and Citroen.

Among the premium carmakers, BMW's performance last year is worth highlighting. In terms of unit sales, they managed to outperform volume manufacturers such as Skoda, Fiat and Ford, whose sales all fell in the EU in 2021.

Among volume manufacturers, Hyundai and Kia were the best performers, with South Korean sales growing confidently in 2021. The sharpest declines in sales were recorded at Ford, Nissan and Renault.

Volkswagen ruled Europe

Looking at the market share of each manufacturer, the Volkswagen Group's market share fell to 25.1%, but it still dominated the European car market. The Stellantis group, with a market share of 21.9%, was close behind in second place, and the Renault group, with a market share of 10.6%, came third in 2021.