Passenger car sales in selected countries worldwide 2005-2022

At about 23.56 million units, China remained the largest market for passenger car sales in 2022. According to the source, passenger cars are motor vehicles with at least four wheels, used for the transport of passengers, and comprising no more than eight seats in addition to the driver's seat. Hence, the figures do not include light trucks.

Pandemic causes sales slump across all markets

Worldwide, passenger car sales have been slowly increasing. Car sales started falling dramatically during the 2008-2009 economic crisis and re-entered a sales slump at the end of 2018. Sales slumped in 2020 due to the outbreak of Covid-19 and related measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. However, despite the impact of the semiconductor chip shortage on vehicle production, global car sales have slowly increased in 2021 and 2022. This growth is however still behind the sales volume recorded in 2019, before the onset of the pandemic.

Spotlight on the largest markets

In Europe, about 75 percent of new passenger car registrations occur in the largest markets, which include Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain. Despite a slowdown in demand in 2020, China has seen the largest increases in passenger vehicle sales between 2005 and 2020, growing from 3.97 million units to some 20 million units. During this time period, leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like General Motors or Volkswagen enjoyed rising sales trends not just in China, but across all Asian markets.

China, Japan, Germany, India, and the United States are ranked among the world’s largest car markets. These countries are home to many of the major motor vehicle manufacturers, including theworld’s largest automakers in 2022.