Economic and Market Report: Global and EU auto industry – Full year 2024

Key takeaways

EU economic outlook

• Following a period of prolonged stagnation, the EU economy returned to growth in 2024 and GDP is expected to accelerate to 1.5% in 2025.
• The disinflationary trajectory that started in late 2022 in the EU continued and eased further to 2.6% in 2024.
• The unemployment rate is projected to decline, reaching 5.9% in the EU in 2025, down from 6.1% in 2024.

Car registrations

• In 2024, global car sales reached 74.6 million units, marking a 2.5% increase compared to 2023.
• EU’s car market grew by 0.8% in 2024, with total sales reaching 10.6 million units.
• Car sales in North America remained resilient in 2024, with the region recording a 3.8% growth.
• Japanese car sales declined by 7% in 2024, while South Korea saw a 5.1% decrease.
• With a strong recovery in the final quarter of 2024, Chinese car sales reached nearly 23 million units, accounting for 31% of global car sales.

Car production

• In 2024, global car manufacturing totalled 75.5 million units.
• EU’s car production fell by 6.2%, as industry confidence remained notably weaker than in other European manufacturing sectors.
• In North America, production decreased by 3.2%, resulting in 11.4 million cars produced last year.
• In 2024, South American car production rose by 1.7% compared to 2023, driven by Brazil, which saw a 6.3% increase, producing around 1.9 million cars.
• China, which saw a robust 5.2% increase, further solidifies its position as the world’s largest car producer with a 35.4% market share, while production in Japan and South Korea declined by 8.6% and 1.2%, respectively.

Car trade

• Despite declines in imports and exports, both in value and in volume, the EU maintained a trade surplus exceeding €81 billion in 2024, although this represented a 5.9% decline compared to 2023.
• In 2024, China kept its position as the primary source of new EU car imports in terms of value claiming a 17.2% market share.
• While the United States remained the trade partner number one in 2024, the export value of EU-made cars to the US fell by 4.6%.
• The US and the UK together account for nearly half of the EU’s new car exports in value.
• In terms of export volumes, there has been a broad decline across the EU’s top destinations.

Commercial vehicle registrations

• In 2024, North America led with a 1.7% increase in sales compared to 2023, reaching 4 million units and representing a 30% market share.
• New EU van sales increased by 8.3%, as did the bus segment (+9.2%). By contrast, new EU truck registrations declined 6.3% in 2024, totalling 327,896 units.
• Last year, diesel remained the preferred choice for new EU commercial vehicle buyers.

Commercial vehicle production

• Global van production declined by 4.6%. America was the only region to see its output increase last year.
• In 2024, global truck production declined by 8.3%, contrasting with South America surge of 37.1%.
• World bus production last year reached 362,005 units, an increase of 10.3% compared to 2023.

Commercial vehicles trade

• 2024 EU van and truck trade saw their value decrease both in imports and exports.
• While import values for buses increased by 6.4%, export values fell by 19.2% in 2024.

ACEA’s Economic and Market Report provides data on vehicle sales, production, and trade in Europe and globally.