Delivery bottlenecks caused the German car market to collapse in the third quarter. The lack of chips in particular is affecting the auto industry.
Bad Homburg (dpa) – The German car market will collapse sharply this year, according to the automotive association VDIK.
Slowed down by the lack of chips and other parts, only 2.6 million new cars are likely to be registered, announced the Association of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (VDIK) in Bad Homburg. That is a decrease of eleven percent compared to the Corona crisis year 2020. Compared to the strong pre-crisis year 2019, when a good 3.6 million new cars were registered, the market has lost around one million cars.
Semiconductor deficiency
The hope for a recovery has been disappointed, said VDIK President Reinhard Zirpel. However, the problem is not on the demand side. “Customers wanted to buy more cars than the industry could produce.” According to the importers’ association, the semiconductor shortage hit the industry with full force.
In the new year, the VDIK expects the market to recover to around three million new cars, an increase of 15 percent. The prerequisite, however, is that the delivery bottlenecks normalize and the very high order backlogs at the manufacturers can be processed.
E-Cars boom
In contrast to the overall market, electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles are experiencing a boom, albeit less strongly than expected, said Zirpel. This year, the VDIK expects 340,000 newly registered battery cars and 320,000 hybrids. The total of 660,000 corresponds to an increase of 70 percent compared to the previous year. However, the overall market share is still small at around a quarter. In the coming year, the VDIK expects around 850,000 new e-cars.