Sales: Swiss family likes cars with plug
BALANCE The chip crisis is dominating events on the car market in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein. At 18,825, the number of new registrations in November was 17.6 percent below the previous year's level.
Since the beginning of the year, 213,958 new vehicles have hit the roads of both countries, 3.2 percent more than at the same point in 2020 and 22.7 percent below the pre-crisis level of 2019 with 276,641 new registrations. The delivery situation in December will determine whether there can still be a narrowly positive year-on-year result for 2021 as a whole.
Electric drives gain market share
Meanwhile, electric drives are gaining massive market share as many manufacturers prioritize corresponding models in production and delivery. In November, more than one in two new passenger cars had an electrified drive or gas engine (53.5%).
The share of plug-in vehicles that can be charged via the power grid was at a record high of 29.6 percent last month. Of these, the majority were electric cars (19.1%), with the remainder plug-in hybrids (10.5%). Full and mild hybrids accounted for 23.8 percent of new registrations.
Pandemic Influences and Supply Difficulties
Christoph Wolnik, media spokesman for the Association of Swiss Automobile Importers auto-schweiz: "In view of the success of electric drives, it is incomprehensible that the Federal Council is once again tightening the CO2 regulations for new passenger cars at the beginning of 2022. In the middle of a crisis phase with negative pandemic effects and delivery difficulties for new vehicles, this approach leads to further costs for the Swiss automotive industry that will in no way help the climate."
All hope for recovery now rests on 2022, although a sustained improvement in the supply situation is probably not expected until the second half of the year.
