EU new car sales rise 12% y/y in January - ACEA

Electric Car

20/02/2024 07:00

By Greta Rosen Fondahn and Alessandro Parodi
       Feb 20 (Reuters) - New car sales in the European Union
rose 12.1% year-on-year in January, helped by double-digit
growth in Germany and Italy, data showed on Tuesday, with
registrations of fully electric cars growing in annual terms but
slumping from December. 
    Total registrations at Europe's two largest carmakers
Volkswagen  VOWG_p.DE  and Stellantis  STLAM.MI  rose by 11.5%
and 15% respectively in January, but were down 2.9% at Renault
 RENA.PA , data from the European Automobile Manufacturers
Association (ACEA) showed.
    
    
        Sales of new battery electric (BEV) cars dropped 42.3%
from December to 92,741 vehicles, although that was a 29%
increase from a year earlier.
    The trend was driven by Germany and France, the two biggest
BEV markets in the bloc, where fully electric sales fell
respectively by 59% and 46% from the previous month, but rose
24% and 37% from a year earlier.
    The figures reflect a global slowdown in electric vehicle
sales, which dropped 26% in January from December but rose 69%
from a year earlier, according to data published last week, as
subsidy cuts or tighter rules in Germany and France weighed,
among other factors.
    As the high cost of EVs has become a barrier to broader mass
adoption, Stellantis and Renault are trying to develop more
affordable EVs. 
    EVs - whether fully electric models, plug-in hybrids or full
hybrids - accounted for 47.5% of all new EU passenger car
registrations in January, up from 42.7% a year earlier, but down
from 53.3% in December.   
     
    
    U.S. EV pioneer Tesla  TSLA.O  saw a 66.9% yearly increase
in EU sales in January. 
    The number of new vehicles registered in January in the EU,
Britain and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) rose by
11.5% to 1 million vehicles, the ACEA said.

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
EV adoption in the EU inches closer to the halfway mark    https://reut.rs/3uEPlDc
Race for the market    https://reut.rs/4bMybED
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 (Reporting by Greta Rosen Fondahn and Alessandro Parodi
Editing by Mark Potter)
 ((greta.rosenfondahn@thomsonreuters.com;
alessandro.parodi@thomsonreuters.com))