Sales of second-hand passenger cars and SUVs fell by 2.4% in February, to 143,359 units, due to the microchip crisis.
The second-hand vehicle market is also being constant in this convulsive 2022. For each new vehicle, 2.3 second-hand units were sold, which shows the good state of the market. Despite this, second-hand vehicle sales dropped 2.4% in February, reducing their figures to 143,359 units.
The reason that has caused the sales of used vehicles to be reduced in Spain during the past month is mainly due to the crisis caused by microchips. “The data for February are not good, those for 2021 worsen, which were also not what was expected due to the blows of the pandemic,” explains Raúl Morales, director of Communication at FACONAUTO.
So far this year, the market has managed to remain stable, with a total of 274,389 units sold, or what is the same, 0.3% more than in the same period last year.
Sales of second-hand vehicles drop 2.4% in February
In an analysis by age brackets, sales of models between 1 and 3 years old plummeted 40.7% last month, to 8,466 units, since, as a result of the semiconductor crisis, there is no renewing the fleet and, therefore, the offer of young vehicles is not being injected into the second-hand market.
This explains why the company channels (-23%), renting (-15%) and rental companies (-12.4%) registered double-digit falls in their operations with used vehicles during the past month. Meanwhile, imports continue to gain prominence as a measure to respond to demand, especially for vehicles between 5 and 8 years old, whose sales increased by 15% in February (13,790 units).
Regarding energy sources, data from employers in the sector show a decline in traditional engines during the month of February. Thus, operations with used diesel vehicles fell by 5.6%, while gasoline fell by 1.5%. Second-hand pure electric cars, on the other hand, increased their sales by 89.8%.
“The problem of our aging car fleet is only growing. The semiconductor crisis means that, in the younger segments, there is no competent offer, and this means that vehicles over 10 years old are, once again, the true protagonists of the second-hand market”, Morales adds.
