Among the worst performers for the month were Jaguar, with sales down 32 percent, Volvo and Seat, whose registrations each fell 20 percent and Nissan, down 18 percent,
Mazda had a good month with sales up 28 percent, as did Toyota brand, with registrations up 14 percent.
UK, Germany growth
Car sales were uneven across Europe’s biggest markets last month.
Registrations fell 20 percent in Italy and 19 percent in France, while they were up 28 percent in the UK and 8.5 percent in Germany.
Analysts and auto executives agree that the chip shortage will continue to impact the industry this year.
VW Group CEO Herbert Diess and other executives have signaled they see the chip supply improving in the second half of 2022, though few have offered specifics as to how the shortage will be resolved.
Speaking Wednesday, Diess said VW has introduced an early-warning system on chips, and its engineers have identified some 150 technology alternatives to replace missing semiconductors.
Bloomberg and Reuters contributed to this report