The auto market is showing signs of recovery, although it remains below pre-pandemic levels. Europeans’ car preferences are no longer what they used to be, and new trends are already taking hold.

Electrica Tesla clearly dominates in 2023, strengthening its position as the leader in European sales, after an aggressive pricing policy and taking advantage of the electric wave in the automotive world, as well as government subsidies. With a car that’s technically at the opposite pole, Dacia maintains second place in European supremacy alongside the Sandero. All this time, Chinese brands are slowly but surely penetrating the European market.

According to JATO Dynamics, the first half of this year saw the highest number of car registrations since the Covid-19 pandemic at 6.56 million units. An increase of 976,000 units compared to the first half of 2022 and 80,000 units compared to the same period in 2021.

However, the results for 2023 are not yet as high as the years before the pandemic, when 1.86 million more cars were sold (2019) and 2.13 million more in 2018.

“While registrations are slowly picking up again, supply chain difficulties as well as other post-pandemic factors mean the market will not return to its pre-2020 state for some time. The main obstacle to achieving such high volumes is the availability of electric vehicles and their higher prices,” says Felipe Muñoz, global analyst at JATO Dynamics.

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