Car sales in Portugal in June continued the growth trend seen on a monthly basis since July last year. After a first half of 2022 with some negative variation, the positive evolution of the figures is a constant. We are witnessing, as Hélder Pedro, general secretary of the Automobile Association of Portugal (ACAP), a post-pandemic recovery trajectory that nevertheless does not reach 2019 values. compared to 2019, it remains close to 16%, despite overall market growth – with sales of light and heavy vehicles increasing – in the order of 40.7%, compared to the first half of last year.
For the ACAP representative, the main reasons for the consolidated growth in the first six months of the year are related to the general increase in national economic activity, which is driving companies’ demand for new vehicles, but also, more specifically, to the tourism that generates a greater demand for rental cars, which stimulates purchases from rental car companies. “These companies are trying to expand their offerings to respond to market needs, which helps accelerate sales,” explains Hélder Pedro.
In the retail segment, the ACAP Secretary General is noticing some setbacks in the six months now coming to a close, and believes this buyer uncertainty could be even greater in the second half of the year. In Hélder Pedro’s view, factors such as the rise in interest rates on car loans, the still high inflation and the priority that consumers give to paying off their house contribute to the cooling that is already taking place. “I think the second half will be positive in sales, but growth will be smaller,” he emphasises.
Still for the reasons justifying the growth in the private segment at the beginning of this year, the ACAP manager believes it will be partly related to the delivery of ordered vehicles in 2022, but that due to the lack of components that occurred last year, have only now reached the hands of their owners.
With regard to luxury brands, and despite the fact that this is a very stable segment and not very sensitive to inflation or interest rate fluctuations, ACAP data shows a slight increase in the number of units sold in Portugal. Lotus, McLaren and Rolls-Royce sent a car from each of the brands to Portuguese countries that had not generated sales in 2022. Lamborghini and Aston Martin grew by 50% and 47.1% respectively, with 12 and 25 units of each brand in 2023. Among luxury brands, only Bentley suffered a drop of about 15.6%, going from 32 units sold in the first half of last year to 27 between January and June this year.
Heavy: two realities
Despite the good performance in the heavy goods segment in the first half of the year as a whole, the drop in demand for heavy passenger cars weighed on overall sales in this market. In June, 12.6% fewer vehicles were sold compared to the same period in 2022, with the growth in sales of heavy goods (+71.4%) offset the fall in demand for passenger cars, which represented a drop of 87.1%. showed, could not compensate. For Hélder Pedro, the growth in the freight transport segment may be related to the increase in exports, which increases the demand for these types of vehicles.
Already in the first half of the year, the heavy market recorded an overall growth of 16.9%, again boosted by trucks, whose sales increased by 50.3%. In the passenger segment, the decline was less pronounced, but still a 57.8% decline compared to the first half of 2022.
The good news for the auto sector also includes the growing increase in national production, which accelerated again in May by 37% compared to the same period in 2022. The data also comes from ACAP, which believes these figures are revealing for the importance that this industry already has for the country, namely the impact it has on exports, since practically 90% of this production goes to other European countries. Nearly 35,000 vehicles were produced last month, adding to the 153,000 produced in the first five months of the year. By typology, 27,055 passenger cars were produced in May, 32.2% more, 6,840 light trucks, 19.3% more, and 565 heavy vehicles, 33.9% more.
Source: DN
