The European region continues to see price rises on an almost weekly basis, whilst manufacturers continue to refine and tweak their ranges as parts supply and component costs remain high. Brands in Germany, Italy, Great Britain and France are all boosting pricing as a consequence.

Despite a globally-effective price drop for the marque, which signalled some price movement for other EV-centric brands, Tesla has recently reversed the trend and increased vehicle retail pricing across several countries.

Sales continue to flourish. Swiss numbers reflect an upturn in consumer confidence with sales 16% above April 2022 figures, signifying that manufacturers are now getting a better grip of supply chain and new order issues. The same market is also seeing a burgeoning electrified sector, share for alternatively-fuelled vehicles now accounting for more than 54% of sales. However, despite these increases the Swiss vehicle market is still around two thirds lower than 2019 numbers, a trend seen across most of the region.

Austria will see an updated NoVa taxation policy introduced by the end of year, although nothing has been confirm as yet on how this is likely to affect sectors like EV.

There is a strong suggestion that the ‘green’ bonus for electrified drive in the French market will be reviewed later this year. However, announced earlier this month, the current EUR 7,000 bonus for purchasing an electric vehicle will now only be relevant for those Makes producing vehicles within the European region, as well as regional battery production.

Nordic sales continue to be bolstered by a positive trend towards electric models, the pioneering market of Norway being no exception and continuing to encourage new sector models to be introduced like Ford’s F-150 Lightning EV pick-up. All being said, due to new taxation rules announced at the start of 2023, sales in Norway reduced on April 2022 figures, by around 8%, but expected to remain fairly strong throughout the year.

Finland will see the introduction of the BYD brand from June, with the hope that a new government - currently in the process of forming - will discuss the reintroduction of EV subsidies (dropped at end of 2022).

Sweden has seen private leasing fees for EVs drop to what consumers consider more reasonable and affordable numbers and Denmark, in particular, is now seeing lease deals with no down-payment options, not previously available.

This month saw the reintroduction of Malaysia’s Autoshow 2023, and some significant new models introduced to the market. Additionally, Chery officiated its partnership with Inokom for CKD local assembly at the latter’s 200-acre facility in Kulim and the first two models will roll out of the Kedah plant later this year. The Chinese brand also announced that Malaysia will be the carmaker’s main production hub in ASEAN, despite the fact it already has local assembly facilities in Indonesia.

Products from Kulim will be exported to countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam and as far as Australia.

From July 1, the Australian government will introduce its 23-24FY Luxury Car Tax thresholds, in line with inflation. April sales indicated the market’s slowest month of the year, although 1.3% up on 2022 statistics. Toyota remains the number one brand in the market, despite sales being 33% down on last year due mainly to crippling supply issues (anywhere between one and three year waiting lists for some models, especially hybrids).

Chinese battery company, CATL, has unveiled all-new condensed matter battery technology with an energy density of up to 500 Wh/kg. The company said it can achieve mass production within the year. The technology has initially been designed to be utilized in the aerospace industry, but with an automotive cell under development. To put the output into context, last year the company unveiled its ‘Qilin’ battery with an energy density of 255 Wh/kg, capable of delivering a range of up to 1,000 km and ten-minute charging capacity from 10%-80%.

Tesla has announced plans to export its Shanghai-built Model Y to the Canadian market. The base model, 245-mile RWD variant has already commenced production and will deliver to North America from this summer.

Uncertainty continues to surround the Brazilian Government’s potential decision to announce tax barriers for imported EVs, in order to protect its national industry. This follows suggestions that tax incentives for the local industry to invest in hybrid+flex fuel technology may be offered.

Chinese EVs continue to penetrate the Latin American marketplace (predominantly Mexico and Chile with imported units, and Brazil with large investment into local production such as Great Wall from 2024). BYD, along with other established Chinese marques such as Skywell, Haval and Jetour, have announced their intentions to enter these markets in the near future.

Canadian new vehicle dealer inventory has been, and continues to be, affected by semiconductor supply issues, despite evidence to suggest stock in other markets globally is beginning to return to normal levels. Figures quoted of 42% of normal stock levels in Q1 2023 compares favourably to the 19% figures of the same period in 2022, but dealers fear there is still a significant way to go before the national industry returns to usual, pre-pandemic, numbers.