The crisis caused by the lack of microchips in the automotive sector is disappearing. Vehicle registrations rose more than 44% to more than 237,000 units in the first quarter of the year, according to a report released Monday by the Manufacturers and Dealers Employers Association.
March was the third month in a row to close on a positive note, with registrations up 66.1% year-over-year. They touched 100,000 units as there were 99,524 cars left.
“This growth is mainly due to the improvement of the logistics chain as well as the production of vehicles. Likewise, a bag of backlogs came out in the last month of March, which increased the sales volume, mainly in the rental channel and companies,” anfac, Facounauto and Ganvam said in a statement.
“In any case, despite the improvement in March, the market is still 19% below pre-pandemic levels in 2019,” explaining how the market underperformed the previous period. pandemic.
As for how polluting these new cars are, figures published by the associations indicate that average CO2 emissions of passenger cars sold in March remain at 119.8 grams per kilometer driven. That is, they are 0.28% behind a year ago. Overall this year, average emissions from registered vehicles are 119.1 grams of CO2 per kilometer traveled, which is 0.34% less than the same period in 2022.
Top selling brands and models
By brand, the banner that achieved the most registered units from January to March is Toyota, with 20,749. They are followed by Seat (18,040) and Peugeot (17,737), which are also the brands with the best figures if you only look at the month of March.
By model, the top seller in the quarter is the Seat Arona, with 7,500 units. Dacia Sandero (6595) and Toyota C-HP (6459) are in second and third place.
Electrified sales increased by more than 70%
As for the electrified market (electric and plug-in hybrids, both passenger cars and commercial and industrial vehicles and buses), they grew by 70.4% in March. They added 11,690 units that month. “Despite improving the previous year’s results, the sales volume is still only 10% of the total market,” the aforementioned employers lamented.
In terms of low environmental impact, it’s worth noting that registrations of zero and low emission vehicles – which only consider electric, hybrid and gas – were up more than 73.1% in the month, with 42,815 units sold. “Alternative vehicle sales are second only to gasoline, with a market share of 36.82% during March,” they emphasize.
Some brands specializing in electric cars are moving forward in sales. Chinese carmaker Lynk & Co, whose business model is somewhere between car sharing and leasing, saw registrations rise 224.7% quarter-on-quarter to 958 vehicles.
As for Tesla, quarterly growth is approaching 47%. Specifically, the American company has reached 2,000 units registered so far this year. Half of them in March.
Source: El Diario
