Sales of new cars increased by 141 thousand in December compared to last year. This year, the decline reached 4.14% yoy . The smallest decline was seen in Estonia (124%) while sales in Lithuania dropped the most (-18.3%). Volkswagen Group sold the most cars in December 2022 in Europe, some 274 thousand vehicles representing 25.1% of the European market.
In December, sale of new cars rose 12.8% yoy in the EU, marking the fifth consecutive month of growth this year. While German and Italian car markets rose 38% and 21% respectively, Spain suffered a substantial decline of 14.1%. Overall, the European Union passenger car market contracted by 4.6% in 2022, due mainly to the impact of component shortages in the first half of the year.
In December, most vehicles (314 thousand) were sold in Germany (up 38.1% yoy), followed by France (158 thousand, down 0.057%), the United Kingdom with 128 thousand cars (up 18.3%), 105 thousand new vehicles were registered in Italy (up 21.0%) and 73.9 thousand in Spain (down 14.1%). The five largest countries accounted for 64.7% of total new vehicles registered in December 2022.
In relative terms, sales in Estonia (+124%) and Ireland (+97.2%) declined the least compared to a year ago, whereas registration in Lithuania and Denmark dropped the most (-18.3% and -14.3% yoy), in December 2022, according to ACEA.
Volkswagen Group sold the most cars in December 2022 in Europe, some 274 thousand vehicles representing 25.1% of the European market. Sales of Renault Group amounted to 116 thousand vehicles (or 10.6% of the market) while PSA Group and BMW Group held 10.0% and 7.80% of the European market in December. Overall, the five largest manufacturers sold 60.3% of all new cars in December.
Helgi Library 
