The auto market is in deep crisis, this is nothing new. Indeed, unfortunately, the situation has been such for two years already, since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, which has shocked the whole world. From that moment on, many events have taken place, including the shortage of raw materials and semiconductors, the war between Russia and Ukraine, and skyrocketing fuel prices.
The first 6 months of this year recorded a -14% in registrations compared to 2021, the collapse in sales continues unabated. The market does not seem to show signs of improvement, on the contrary, the chip crisis and that of raw materials are among the major causes of this situation. In this scenario, however, there are gods brands that manage to get by, some even growing.
The ranking of the best-selling brands in Europe
From January to June 2022 the most successful brands in our continent are:
- Volkswagen;
- Toyota;
- Peugeot;
- Renault;
- Mercedes;
- BMW;
- Audi;
- Kia;
- Skoda;
- Hyundai.
Kia and Hyundai, in the first half of 2022, even recorded an increase in sales compared to the same period last year (respectively + 14.3% and + 3.9%). The other manufacturers, on the other hand, continue with a minus sign.
The reasons? It is certain that the purchasing power of the middle class is lower, too many costs for families. It must be said, however, that there is also another reason linked to this collapse in registrations: new cars are not ready, waiting times have increased dramatically. There war in Ukraineas we have said, it has made an already negative situation worse.
A new way of conceiving the car market
We think of “on demand” production, and the first brand to talk about it is Alfa Romeo, an Italian company that is part of the Colossus Stellantis, which we all know. It was indeed Jean-Philippe Learned who talked about it, and in fact the approach works: there will be no more squares full of cars to sell and full stocks, production must be targeted and already sold before entering the lines. Among other things, the arrival of the new Tonale SUV could lead to an increase in registrations for the House.
Brands that are succeeding despite the crisis
There are other car brands that are enjoying some success on the market in Europe, and which are very little outside the ranking just seen. First of all Dacia, which grows by 16% and which has a total of 210,526 registrations.
Dacia’s approach has always been focused on “low cost”, if we can define it that way, and concentrated on the production of a few set-ups, in order to ensure shorter delivery times for customers, who do not have an enormous possibility of customization. Another type of production on demand, other choices in fact would still translate into too long waiting times.
Renault is also following the same philosophy with his new Arkana in the “Fast Track” version: one set-up, one engine. Tesla also follows the example, the Model Y produced in Germany in fact accepts orders only for white and black livery, with guaranteed delivery by October 2022. For the other colors, production in China and deliveries scheduled for March 2023 are to be awaited. .
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