BERLIN (Reuters) – German autos association VDA dampened its forecast for the passenger car market in the United States and Europe on Thursday, citing inflation, interest rates and ongoing supply chain troubles.
It adjusted its forecast for passenger car deliveries in the U.S. to predict a 7% drop this year, from a previous forecast of a 1% drop.
In Europe, it said it expected deliveries to fall 4%, from a previous forecast of no change.
In China, by contrast, where the recovery from pandemic-related lockdowns was progressing faster than expected, it forecast 9% growth compared with a previous forecast of 3%.
Globally, the association continues to expect no change from last year’s deliveries, which totalled 71.4 million vehicles – still 9.2 million below the industry’s output in 2019 before the pandemic.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee)