Automotive in Europe: car sales fall due to lack of Ukrainian-made parts
The Renault Flins factory in Aubergenville (Yvelines).
Reuters/Jacky Naegelen
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The Russian invasion in Ukraine is a new shock for the European automotive sector.
Car sales collapsed in Europe in March.
In volume, they have fallen by 20%. It is not the buyers who are lacking but the parts essential to the construction of the vehicles.
Advertisement
Read more
A total of 844,000 new cars were sold in the European Union in March, 20% less in one year, and almost a third less than in 2019. This is the lowest volume of sales recorded for 12 years, excluding the pandemic.
Germany, Poland and France are less affected than Spain and Sweden, the latter seeing its sales plummet by 40%.
While the automotive market has suffered from shortages of electronic components and their supply difficulties since the pandemic, it must now take the brunt of the war in Ukraine.
► To read also: Automotive industry: the shortage of electronic chips weighs on production in the second quarter
Main European supplier of wiring harnesses, the centerpiece in the supply of electrical equipment in a car, Ukraine can no longer supply manufacturers.
For lack of parts, several factories in Europe have been shut down, like the Renault factory in Douai in France, which ceased production for eleven days.
Same thing for the German manufacturer Volkswagen, the European leader had to temporarily interrupt several of its sites in Germany.
► To read also: The car manufacturer Renault announces that it is suspending the activities of its factory in Moscow
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Automotive
Economy
European Union
Industry