Despite the dominance of petrol and diesel-powered vehicles in the European Union’s new car market, electric cars are steadily gaining ground, accounting for 10.9% of market share in January, up from 9.5% last year.
According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), a total of 92,741 battery electric cars were sold in the EU in January 2024, marking a 28.9% year-on-year increase. The largest markets for electric vehicles (EVs) were Belgium (+75.5%), the Netherlands (+72.2%), France (+36.8%), and Germany (+23.9%), which together represented 66% of EV sales in the EU.
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When including sales from the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) nations (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland) and the UK, the total number of battery electric cars sold in January reached 102,926 units, with a year-on-year increase of 29.3%. In the EFTA nations alone, sales surged by 69.7%, reaching 7,250 units compared to 4,273 units in January 2023.
Hybrids and plug-in hybrids also saw increased demand, with hybrids becoming the second most preferred choice among EU car buyers. In January 2024, a total of 245,068 hybrids were sold in the EU, marking a 23.5% increase year-on-year. Spain (+26.5%), France (+29.9%), Germany (+24.3%), and Italy (+14.2%) were the main drivers of this growth. Additionally, 66,600 plug-in hybrids were sold, representing a 23.8% increase.
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In terms of market share, petrol and diesel cars still dominate, accounting for nearly half of all sales, with petrol at 35.2% and diesel at 13.4%. Hybrids hold a 28.8% share, while battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids account for 10.9% and 7.8% respectively. Combined, plug-in vehicles make up 18.7% of all cars sold in the EU in January.
The ACEA manufacturer ranking showed the Volkswagen Group leading with 221,011 units sold across all drive systems in the EU in January 2024, a 11.5% increase compared to January 2023, maintaining a market share of 25.9%.
Overall, the EU new car market rebounded from the slowdown in December 2023, growing by 12.1% year-on-year to 851,690 units.
