Despite posting a recovery post-pandemic, the passenger car market now faces a new challenge from inflation and rising living costs that have eaten into consumers’ spending capacity throughout 2022 and 2023. Nevertheless, both Europe and North America posted volume growth in 2023, with easing supply challenges helping volume uptake.
The passenger car market is now expected to exceed its pre-covid market size by the end of 2024. The APAC region is anticipated to provide a strong impetus for growth with India and China both showing a high capacity to soak up demand with first-time purchases. Electric Vehicles (EVs) will also provide a sizeable amount of replacement demand for developed automotive markets, allowing for continued growth in EMEA and Americas. However, the increased price of EVs, coupled with range anxiety and lagging charging infrastructure development also mean that overall uptake could be lower than initially anticipated.