“In global terms, from January to September 2022, the market registered a decrease of 1.3 percent compared to the same period in 2021. However, and even so, this result is misleading, considering that the years 2020 and 2021 incorporate the effects of the strong impact of the pandemic and the semiconductor crisis,” the association said in a statement.

Therefore, compared to 2019, the automotive market in Portugal fell by 34.7 percent. In total, from January to September, 134,804 new vehicles were put into circulation. In September alone, 14,711 cars were registered, 12.8 percent more than in the same month of the previous year.

By category, in September, 12,469 new passenger cars were registered, a year-on-year increase of 15.6 percent. In the first nine months of the year, passenger car registrations totalled 113,762 units, an increase of 1.1 percent compared to the same period in 2021.

According to ACAP, “from January to September 2022, 39.7 percent of newly registered light passenger vehicles were powered by other types of energy, namely electric and hybrid. 10.7 percent of newly registered light passenger vehicles were electric”.