Auto production, impacted by supply chain issues, shows no signs of reversing.

New registrations in Europe fell by 14 percent in the first half of the year compared to the previous year, as the manufacturer association Acea announced on Friday.

4.6 million cars were newly registered from January to the end of June.

The decline in Italy was particularly large at almost 23 percent.

In France, new registrations fell by around 16 percent in the first half of the year, and by around 11 percent in Germany and Spain.

According to management consultancy EY, the EU new car market reached its lowest June level since the eastward enlargement of the EU in 2014. “Semiconductors and raw materials are still scarce, which leads to significant impairments in production.

The hoped-for recovery is likely to be further delayed due to the strict lockdown policy in China," said EY specialist Peter Fuss.

China's statistical office published unexpectedly weak economic growth for the People's Republic on Friday.

Experts see the reason for this primarily in the government's rigorous zero-Covid policy.

Decline in sales burdens Porsche before spin-off from VW group

The negative influences are also impacting sales of the stock market candidate Porsche.

The sports car manufacturer delivered 5 percent fewer vehicles in the first half of 2022 than in the previous year, partly because of the situation in the important Chinese market.

In total, Porsche handed over 145,860 cars to customers worldwide from January to June, the company announced on Friday.

In China, Porsche delivered 40,681 cars in the first half, 16 percent fewer than a year ago.

However, the overall market for premium and luxury vehicles has shrunk significantly more, so Porsche has delivered a “convincing result”, the manufacturer explained.

But deliveries in the USA also fell significantly.

In Europe and the German home market, however, more vehicles went to customers.

Porsche is scheduled to go public in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Volkswagen hopes to earn billions from this.

Renault can grow

EY specialist Fuss expects that the availability of new cars will be limited, new car prices will be high and delivery times will remain long.

Manufacturers would continue to focus on producing vehicles that will make them the most money.

In June, the number of new registrations fell by 15.4 percent compared to the previous year, with 886,510 new vehicles being registered.

Of the four main markets in Europe, the drop this month was felt most severely in the German market, with 18.1 percent fewer new registrations compared to last year.

In addition to the lack of semiconductors and raw materials, the war in Ukraine and skyrocketing energy costs are also causing problems for car manufacturers.

Manufacturers Volvo and Mazda were hardest hit, with declines of 49.1 and 47.5 percent, respectively.

VW lost 22.3 percent compared to the previous year, which was shaped by corona.

BMW recorded minus 19.3 percent, the Opel parent company Stellantis minus 15.4 percent.

Mercedes-Benz only had to record a comparatively small decline of minus 2.2 percent.

The French Renault group grew by 0.8 percent in the same period.