Morning Bites

🚘US light vehicle sales fell 12% YoY in March, vs. the -2% YoY seen in February. Total car sales in the US were also 15% below their pre-Covid (March 2019) level. According to US media reports, despite overall weakening consumer sentiment, the YoY decline was also due to the high base effect from March 2025 (when sales were boosted ahead of the introduction of tariffs on imported vehicles)

Meanwhile, the share of catalyst-containing cars in local sales is to gradually increase, we believe, as new US budget legislation eliminated USD 7,500 and USD 4,000 tax credits for buying new and used EVs, respectively, from the end of September 2025. In our view, this factor will further weigh on BEV sales in the US (~8% of global BEV registrations in 2025), as was the case in Germany in early-2024 - supportive for PGM market fundamentals

On our numbers, North America accounted for 24% and 15% of world autocatalyst Pd and Pt consumption, respectively, in 2024

#cars #PGMs