Sharp decline in European registrations of electric cars

(Keystone-ATS) This decline in “zero-emission” automobiles was greater than that of the market for all engines combined, which eroded by 1.9% compared to November 2023, specified the European Association of Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) in its delivery monthly figures.

Two of Europe’s main national markets, France and Germany, saw a drop in their electric car registrations last month, by 24.4% and 21.8% respectively. As a result on a European scale, the share of electric vehicles has fallen to 15% compared to 16.3% in November 2023.

Plug-in hybrids (fuel-electricity) from the sector were also less attractive, falling to 7.6% market share in November compared to 8.2% a year earlier.

The winners are to be found among non-rechargeable hybrid cars, which rose to 33.2% of the market in November compared to 27.5% a year earlier, “outperforming registrations of gasoline cars for the third consecutive month,” said noted the ACEA.

The latter represent 30.6% of the market, still far ahead of diesels, which only convince one in ten buyers (10.6%).

During the first 11 months of the year, the European market evolved slightly in the green year-on-year (+0.4%) but electric vehicles plunged by 5.4% and now only represent 13.4% of registrations, so that the EU plans to ban the sale of new thermal automobiles by 2035.

On the manufacturer side, the Volkswagen group is still in the lead and reigns over 26.7% of the European Union market since January (+0.6 points over one year), ahead of Stellantis (16.8% of registrations, -1, 3 pt) and Renault, stable at 10.8%.

A precursor and specialist in hybrid cars, Toyota continues its progress, gaining 1.1 points of penetration of the European market compared to January-November 2023, at 8% of the total, nevertheless closely followed by the South Koreans of Hyundai at 7.9 %.