The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) revealed this Wednesday that new car sales in the European Union increased by 13.7% in April, benefiting from strong growth in sales in the four main European markets.
In a statement, ACEA explains that “the growth in sales in April is explained by the fact that there were two additional sales days compared to the same month last year, when Easter holidays were in April.”
In addition, in the first four months of the year, new car registrations in the European Union (EU) increased by 6.6% to around 3.7 million units, with strong growth in Germany and Spain of 7.8%, followed by France (+7%) and Italy (+6.1%).
In April, fully electric cars accounted for nearly 12% of the EU car market, while hybrids increased from a market share of 24.9% to 29.1%, while the combined share of petrol and diesel vehicles fell to less than half of the market, dropping from 52.8% to 48.9%.
In the fourth month of 2024, registrations of 100% electric cars increased by 14.8% to 108,552 units, maintaining their market share at around 12%. France and Belgium recorded the most significant increases, of 45.2% and 41.6%, respectively.
In total for the first four months of the year, 441,992 new 100% electric cars were registered, representing a 6.4% increase compared to the previous year.
Hybrid cars also recorded strong growth, with a 33.1% increase in registrations in April, with France (+48.1%), Spain (+38.5%), Germany (+25.9%), and Italy (+22.8%) leading the way, with registrations totaling 265,992 units. This raised the market share of hybrid models to 29.1%, compared to 24.9% in April 2023.
Meanwhile, registrations of plug-in hybrid cars increased by 3.7% last month, representing 6.8% of the total automotive market, with 62,148 units sold in April.
Petrol car sales increased by 7.3% to 328,967 in April, driven by double-digit gains in key markets such as Spain (+24.1%), Germany (+18.6%), and Italy (+14.1%). However, their market share decreased from 38.1% to 36% compared to the same month in 2023.
On the other hand, the diesel car market remained stable, with around 118,000 units, representing almost 13% of the market.
Despite substantial declines in important markets like Italy (-21.1%), Spain (-19.3%), and France (-18.1%), a significant increase in Germany (+28.2%) helped offset these losses.
