Electric sales are decreasing slightly in Europe, in favor of hybrids.
©Volkswagen
In May, new car registrations fell by 3% compared to the same period last year, according to figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). A slowdown affecting the main EU markets.
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Indeed, registrations fell by 6.6% in Italy, 4.3% in Germany and 2.9% in France. Conversely, the Spanish market experienced an improvement with +3.4%. However, from January to May, the numbers remain positive with an increase of 4.6% compared to 2023. Analysts say this short-term decline is due to slowing sales of electric vehicles.
Electricity stabilizes
After years of continuous growth, the electric market share is stagnating, or even decreasing, in 2024, and May is no exception to the rule. Thus, in May 2023, the market share of EVs was 13.8%, and it is only 12.5% in May 2024.
These figures could even deteriorate in the coming months with the increase in customs duties on EVs imported from China, which are cheaper to buy.
Some countries are going against this trend, such as Belgium, which has seen its electric sales increase considerably (+44.8%), but also France with an increase of 5.4%. However, after the end of subsidies in Germany, electric sales fell by 30.6% in May. From January to May, the overall drop is 16%.
Non-plug-in hybrid vehicles are increasingly sought after by buyers.
© ACEA
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Plug-in hybrid cars saw significant declines, with sales in Belgium and France seeing sharp declines of 36.6% and 19.4%, respectively. They represented only 6.5% of total vehicles sold in the EU last month, compared to 7.4% in May 2023. A decline which is expected to continue with the new European rules on PHEV emissions.
Although thermal vehicles, without any electrical assistance, are still the most purchased, their market share has fallen from 52.1% to 48.5%.
The hybrid is doing well
The vehicles that are doing the best are non-plug-in hybrids, which see their market share increase from 25% to 29.9% in May 2024. From January to May, the increase is similar with 29.2% compared to 25 .1%. This is explained by the availability of a growing number of models characterized by more or less hybrid technologies, much lower consumption than thermal ones, and acquisition costs significantly lower than PHEV and VE.
The share of simple hybrids in France has reached records.
© ACEA
In France, between May 2023 and 2024, the market share exploded from 23.6% to 33.7%, where Germany seems less convinced (from 23.4% to 24.3%), while in Italy, it amounts to almost 40%. A figure which could further increase with the arrival of the Fiat 500 hybrid.
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