PARIS — The European auto industry experienced one of its worst sales years in 2022, but sales should rebound in 2023, according to three forecasters.
Dataforce said Thursday it expects passenger car sales to grow 13% to 12.7 million in 30 countries, including the EU, UK, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. Dataforce expects to benefit from sales to rental companies, potential demand from individual buyers, and increased dealer and manufacturer registrations.
ACEA, a lobbying group of European automakers, said on Tuesday that sales of passenger cars across the EU 26 are expected to rise by 5% to 9.8 million units.
Earlier last month, LMC Automotive said sales in Western Europe will grow by 7.8% to reach 10.95 million in 2023.
But both ACEA and Dataforce point out that even with the expected increase, sales will remain well below pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Dataforce’s Benjamin Kibies said in a note that registrations for 2023 are 19% lower than he was in 2019, while ACEA Executive Director Sigrid de Vries said 2023 registrations are Still he said 25% less.