Auto Sales Are Slipping As Recession Fears Grip Markets

Auto sales continue to sputter heading into the back half of 2022, as global recession fears mount and supply chain issues persist.

The latest to disclose lackluster numbers was Porsche, who said their global deliveries were down 5% to 145,860 vehicles in the first half of the year, according to a wrap up by Bloomberg on Friday morning. 

The company cited (surprise) "supply-chain challenges and China’s resurging pandemic," the note says. Sales were down 10% in the U.S. and 16% in China, where lockdowns once again became reality during the first half of the year.

Sales were actually higher by 7% in Europe. Detlev von Platen, Porsche’s sales and marketing chief, offered up some vague sounding spin heading into the back half of the year, stating: “We expect the second half-year to be dynamic.”

Demand for SUVs remains "especially high," the company said. Its Cayenne and Macan models were its top sellers, the report notes. 

Meanwhile, the bounce back in China looks to have already taken hold, as we noted about a week ago. Chinese auto sales saw a tick up in June as the country continued its Covid re-open and further mulled what types of EV subsidies it was going to continue with. 

Notable is that June sales increased 43.2%, while new energy vehicles were up a whopping 130.8% to 532,000 units sold, according to Bloomberg data that cites China’s Passenger Car Association.

The country's passenger vehicle output came in at 2.2 million units, up 44.3% YOY. 

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Recall, just days ago we noted the trend in NEVs when Tesla posted sales in June up 142% from the month prior. We noted then that EVs were seeing momentum in China for the month of June. 1.926 million passenger cars were sold in China in June, which is a 22% rise from last year. 

Porsche looks to be bucking the trend in Europe, where supply chain chaos continues to wreak havoc, we noted just days ago. June sales data for the UK and German new car registrations fell off a cliff and the UK saw its weakest June since 1996.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders is still attributing the sales drop to the "ongoing global shortage of semiconductors" mixed with China's implementation of severe Covid restrictions. 

By Zerohedge.com

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