in 2021 sales fell by 101 percent in germany as a shortage of semiconductors a key component in both conventional and electric vehicles strangled productionfrankfurt sales of german cars rose yearonyear in january official figures published thursday showed after the flagship industry was plagued by supply problems in 2021 new car registrations were up 85 percent in january in europes largest economy the federal transport agency said in a statement the car industry has little grounds at the beginning of the year to breathe the president of the vdik car importers federation reinhard zirpel said in a statement advt the numbers were rosier than those for december when sales fell by 269 percent yearonyear but the market was still a way off its precrisis level in january zirpel said in 2021 sales fell by 101 percent in germany as a shortage of semiconductors a key component in both conventional and electric vehicles strangled production the result followed a drop of 19 percent in 2020 when the industry was contending with the economic impact of lockdowns at the start of the coronavirus pandemic sales of electric cars outperformed the market as a whole with sales increasing 281 percent on january last year after seven months in a row in which production figures fell by double digits carmakers turned out eight percent more units in january this year than in 2021 the auto industry association vda said survey data from the ifo institut think tank also showed that auto businesses saw the supply situation improving in january 779 percent reported problems procuring materials and components down from 929 percent in the same survey in decemberalso readjanuary 2022 auto sales sequential growth continues long way to go for recoveryrelaxing of covid19 restrictions growing demand for electric vehicles and growth in exports are some of the near term positive factors for the auto sector however a return to the path of normalcy and striking a balance between demand and supply appear to be long awaysee more details afp published on feb 3 2022 at 1041 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etauto app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app german car sales international supply problems car industry german auto sales electric car sales homenewsgerman car sales improve in january after 2021 struggles