May registrations fall 11% even as private sales pick up

Registrations continue on a downward trend and have fallen 11% compared to the same period in 2021. The positive note comes from the private buyer channel, which has increased its sales. Year to date, sales of passenger cars and SUVs are down 11.5%, with 318,487 units. Meanwhile, light commercial vehicles have fallen 32.7% compared to the same month last year, with 10,914 units. However, industrial vehicles, buses, coaches and minibuses have reduced their sales by 1.7% in May.

May closed with a 10.9% drop in registrations of passenger cars and SUVs compared to the same month last year, with a total of 84,977 units. The market continues to post figures below those of 2021, mainly due to the microchip crisis and the economic context, although the recovery in sales to private and business buyers stands out this month. Year to date, through May, a total of 318,487 units have been registered, 11.5% fewer than in the same period last year.

CO2 emissions have fallen by almost 3%

The average CO2 emissions of passenger cars sold in May stood at 122 grams of CO2 per kilometre, 2.9% lower than the average emissions of new passenger cars sold in May 2021. Sales to both private buyers and companies improved on last year’s figures, growing by 4.3% and 3.3% respectively. In the latest month, the private buyer channel reached 34,666 units registered, while the business channel totalled 32,076 units, breaking the downward trend of the previous two months. In contrast, the rental channel continues to post negative figures, with a sharp drop of 41.4%.

Aránzazu Mur, director of economics and logistics at Anfac, explained that “the market’s downward trend of recent months continues. This shows the delicate situation facing the automotive sector, due largely to the microchip crisis, which prevents manufacturers from producing at the pace demanded. Even so, although the market is shrinking, driven by the sharp fall in rent-a-car sales, both private and business sales closed the month on a positive note.”

For his part, Raúl Morales, communications director at Faconauto, stated that “in May we noticed a slight improvement in orders at dealerships, as well as in registrations, because vehicles sold in previous months are gradually being registered. Despite this small recovery, sales remain 30% below the volumes traded before the pandemic.”

According to Ganvam’s communications director, Tania Puche, “the lack of stock resulting from the chip crisis continues to take its toll on the automotive sector. Although May recorded the best registration figure of this year, we are still around 30% below pre-pandemic levels, which means we remain very far from the 100,000 units that correspond to our market each month.”