Alternative-drive vehicle registrations rise 63.8 pct in 2019 - KPMG
According to a report published on Tuesday by consultancy firm KPMG and the Polish Automotive Industry Association (PZPM), the registration of vehicles in Poland powered by alternative energy rose by 63.8 percent year on year in 2019.
The value of automotive companies' production sold last year rose by 4.5 percent against 2018 and stood at PLN 160.7 billion (EUR 37.5 billion).
The report states that 555,600 new passenger cars, 69,900 delivery vehicles, 28,300 lorries and 38,300 motorcycles were registered in Poland in 2019. Overall, the analysts noted, the number of new passenger car registrations increased by 4.5 percent while the number of passenger vehicles produced fell by 3.7 percent to stand at 434,700.
In the last quarter of 2019, 144,800 new passenger cars were registered in Poland, which was 16,200 more than in the same period of 2018. The experts said that for the whole of 2019, institutional customers registered the most vehicles (392,700, up 2.2 percentage points) while individual customers registered 2.4 times fewer vehicles than their institutional counterparts.
The market for used cars remained stable thanks to weak growth in the group of delivery vehicles, although analysts pointed out that in the second half of the year the number of truck and bus registrations fell sharply.
"Unfortunately that might reflect the first symptoms of a slowing economy and a more careful approach to purchases of new vehicles - especially delivery vehicles and trucks. The start of the current year is also disappointing," PZPM President Jakub Farys was quoted in the report as saying. "It seems that it may be the first year of falling private vehicle registrations after seven years of growth and a slowing down of the used vehicle market."
Overall, the registration of alternative-fuel-powered vehicles rose by 63.8 percent in 2019 compared to 2018. Of the 41,406 alternatively powered vehicles registered last year, 38,716 were hybrids and 2,690 electric. Significantly more alternative-drive vehicles are bought by institutional clients that individual. This group recorded a higher growth rate, up 66 percent compared to 54.2 percent among individual customers.
"It seems that the scale of growth does not yet reflect the future influence of co-financing from the Low-Emission Transport Fund, covering payments for private citizens and businesspeople buying low-emission vehicles (e.g. electric cars)," Miroslaw Michna, partner in the tax advisory department and head of the advisory team for the automotive sector at KPMG in Poland, was quoted in a press release as saying.
