EU new car sales up 0.2% in July’24

New EU car registrations showed a modest rise of 0.2 per cent in July 2024, with Italy and Spain leading the way with increases of 4.7 per cent and 3.4 per cent, respectively. Conversely, France and Germany saw declines of 2.3 per cent and 2.1 per cent, respectively.

For the first seven months of 2024, registrations rose by 3.9 per cent to over 6.5 million units, driven by positive but modest growth in Spain (5.6 per cent), Italy (5.2 per cent), Germany (4.3 per cent), and France (2.2 per cent).

Battery-electric car registrations fell by 10.8 per cent to 102,705 units in July, reducing their market share to 12.1 per cent from 13.5 per cent last year.

Despite gains in Belgium (44.2 per cent) and the Netherlands (8.9 per cent), Germany’s sharp decline of 36.8 per cent offset these increases. For the year to date, 815,399 new battery-electric cars were registered, holding a 12.5 per cent market share.

Plug-in hybrid registrations dropped by 14.1 per cent to 57,679 units in July, with their market share decreasing to 6.8 per cent.

Conversely, hybrid-electric vehicles registration saw a significant increase of 25.7 per cent, totalling 273,003 units and capturing 32 per cent of the market, up from 25.5 per cent last year.

Petrol car sales declined by 7 per cent in July, with market share falling to 33.4 per cent. Diesel car registrations also decreased by 10.1 per cent, representing 12.6 per cent of the market.

Attribution: The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association 

Subediting: M. S. Salama