EU car sales fell 14% in the first half of this year as manufacturers continue to experience supply shortages, AFP reported.

As chip shortages still hamper production, sales of new cars in the European Union fell to 4.6 million, data from the European Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed.

Sales in Italy fell by 22.7%, in France - by 16.3%, in Germany - by 11%, and in Spain - by 10.7%.

Sales in the UK, which is not a member of the EU, were down 11.9%.

Sales also fell 15.4% in June compared to the same month last year, marking the eleventh consecutive monthly decline.

Over the past year, the auto industry has been hit by a shortage of the chips that run many car systems, as chip makers have been unable to meet demand as the global economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although the chip situation is improving, European automakers have been affected by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as a number of component manufacturers are located there.

The economic uncertainty caused by the war, the spike in prices it caused, and the rise in interest rates may prevent sales from recovering going forward as consumers cut back on spending on expensive goods.

Volkswagen maintained its place at the top of the ranking, but the German group's market share fell from 25.8 to 24.1% in the first half of the year. Sales fell 19.4% to 1.35 million vehicles.

Stellantis' market share also fell, from 21.3 to 19.4 percent, as the European-American automaker's sales fell 21.1 percent to 1.09 million vehicles.

Meanwhile, Hyundai-Kia sales jumped 12.6 percent to 556,369 vehicles, helping the Korean automaker increase its market share from 7.6 percent to 9.9 percent.

Renault sales fell seven percent to 522,315 vehicles. But despite this, the market share of the French group rose from 8.7 to 9.3%.

The only manufacturer to register an increase in sales in Europe in the first half of the year was Honda, but it sold only 37,113 cars and its market share was less than 1%.

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