Semiconductor Shortage Stalls Used Car Market, Driving Supply Crisis

The observation is unanimous. Demand is present but supply is not keeping up. This shortage "directly impacts the new car market, as importers are struggling to build up vehicle stock and meet customer demand," notes La Vie Eco.

Faced with this unavailability of new vehicles, individuals who were supposed to sell their vehicles after a few years of use are slow to do so. As a result, "the used car market is suffering from a lack of supply, thus creating an imbalance between supply and demand," the newspaper points out, specifying that despite an increase of nearly 25% compared to 2020, the used car market remains almost stagnant compared to 2019.

This instability has strongly impacted prices, which have increased on average by 15%. "Prices have certainly been driven up, but the market is far from the price increase recorded in other countries like the United States where it was 40%," said Adil Bennani, president of AIVAM.

For his part, Nizar Abdallaoui Maane, founder of Kifal auto, illustrated these figures, explaining that "a premium car, a BMW with 20,000 km and 2 years old, was sold barely 10% cheaper than its initial price, while in a normal context, it would have lost 30% of its value as soon as it left the dealership".