New-car registrations of passenger cars and SUVs continue to rise in November

The automotive industry is celebrating once again after this November, when the data on passenger car and SUV registrations has come to light, showing that the upward trend continues with positive growth of 10.3%, which translates into 73,221 units sold last month.

This is the fourth consecutive month in which the Spanish market has recorded positive growth, but optimism remains restrained despite the sector’s positive performance. If we look at last year’s registrations, we still have a cumulative decline of 4.4% and, what is worse, if we compare with pre-pandemic registrations, that is, 2019, we are still 36% below sales levels. Economic uncertainty, inflation (although it is on the decline) and the microchip crisis are the main reasons why the market has not returned to its pre-pandemic figures.

Registrations by channel

Overall, registrations by channel are improving. The rental company channel is the one growing the most, with growth of 79.7%, corresponding to 5,804 units, largely due to the renewal of its stock ahead of the Christmas season. Meanwhile, companies also recorded growth of 10.1%, with 31,641 units registered. The private channel grew the least; in fact, its growth was quite modest, at 3.9%, with 35,776 units.

Looking more specifically at light commercial vehicles, despite these figures, they fell 3% compared with November of the previous year. This decline worsens if we look at the year-to-date total, which represents a drop of 23.9% compared with the previous year. In this sense, companies are the ones pulling the segment forward, with an increase in registrations of 13.7%, while both self-employed workers and rental companies fell by 21.2% and 44.2% respectively this month.

In contrast to the previous data, both industrial vehicles and buses, coaches and minibuses closed November on a positive note, with an increase of 18.5% in November and 12.3% year to date. In this segment, industrial vehicles are helping to improve these figures thanks to growth of 24.1%, while buses, coaches and minibuses closed November with a decline of 27.3% and only 178 registrations.

It is also worth noting that the average CO2 emissions of passenger cars sold in November stood at 120.4 g/km, which is 0.3% higher than the average emissions of new passenger cars sold in the same month last year. However, looking at the year-to-date figures, emissions have managed to fall by 3.3% compared with the same period of the previous year.