BERLIN, April 20 (Xinhua) -- New passenger car registrations in the European Union (EU) in March declined by 21 percent year-on-year and were 34 percent below pre-pandemic (2019) levels, said a study released by consulting firm EY (Ernst & Young) on Wednesday.

In addition to the ongoing global chip shortage, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the lack of important supplier parts also have a substantial impact on new car sales in Europe, according to EY.

"The considerable bottlenecks in semiconductors and various other intermediate products as well as raw materials mean that the ability to deliver is massively impaired at most manufacturers," said Peter Fuss, partner at EY.

"The situation will not improve significantly at least until the autumn of this year," said Fuss.

Rising inflation, stagnant economic recovery and high fuel prices could have "an impact on demand in the medium term, but do not play a role for the automotive sector at present," Fuss added.

The growth in electric car and plug-in hybrid sales in western Europe's five largest markets -- Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Spain -- has also slowed down, increasing by 7 percent only year-on-year, compared with a 36 percent growth in February.

Plug-in hybrid vehicle sales declined by 18 percent in March, while sales of all-electric cars still grew by 31 percent, according to the study.

"The chip crisis has long since reached the electric segment -- sales of electrified new cars could be significantly higher if the industry were able to deliver accordingly," Fuss said.

The combined market share of electric and plug-in hybrids in March rose from 15.3 percent to 20.4 percent in western Europe's top five markets compared to the same month last year, according to EY. Enditem

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