In April 2023, the EU car market saw a significant increase in passenger car registrations, with 803,188 units sold, representing a 17.2% year-on-year growth. All major EU markets grew solidly last month, with Italy (+29.2%) and France (+21.9%) leading the way.
From From January to April 2023, the EU car market grew by 17.8% to 3.5 million registered cars. Despite the year-on-year improvement, sales were still down 22.8% compared to the same period in 2019, highlighting the continued struggle of the EU car market. Among the four main EU markets, Spain (+33.7%) recorded the highest gains, followed by Italy (+26.9%), France (+16.7%) and Germany (+7, 9%).
Fuel type of new cars
In April, the market share of battery electric cars experienced a significant rebound, rising from 9.1% to 11.8%. While hybrids now account for 24.8% of the EU new car market, petrol cars continue to dominate with the largest share at 38.2%.
Electric cars
Last month, EU registrations of new battery electric cars registered a significant increase (+51.9%), reaching 94,561 units. This represents a market share of 11.8%, an increase of almost 3% compared to April 2022. Most EU markets posted double- and triple-digit percentage gains, including the two most large: France (+34.8%) and Germany (+34.1%) ). This represented a cumulative increase of 45.1%, with 415,579 units sold in the first four months of 2023.
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) continued to grow in April, with sales up 22.7% to 199,407 units. This growth was mainly due to double-digit increases in the four key EU markets: Germany (+35.9%), France (+28.6%), Italy (+28.3%) and Spain (+ 14.4%). As a result, HEVs now have a market share of 24.8% (compared to 23.7% in April 2022).
Despite growth of 4.3% in March, the EU market for plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) declined in April (-5.5%), with sales falling significantly in Germany (-45.7 %), the largest market for this type of fuel. As a result, the global PHEV market share decreased from 9.2% in April last year to 7.4% in 2023.
Gasoline and diesel cars
New petrol car registrations in the EU had another strong month in April, with sales up 17.3% to 306,757 units. This represents a market share of 38.2%, the same share as in April 2022. Growth was mainly driven by strong results in the four key EU markets, especially Italy (+39.3%) and France (+31.3%). Since the beginning of the year, gasoline sales in the EU have reached nearly 1.3 million units, a remarkable increase of 18.3% compared to the same period in 2022.
The EU diesel car market remained stable in April (+0.03%), despite positive developments in two of the bloc’s largest markets: Italy (+21.5%) and Germany ( +2.4%). Diesel cars account for 14.7% of the EU market share, down from 17.2% in April 2022.
From January to April 2023, the EU car market grew by 17.8% to 3.5 million registered cars. Despite the year-on-year improvement, sales were still down 22.8% compared to the same period in 2019, highlighting the continued struggle of the EU car market.
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About ACEA
- The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) represents the 14 leading car, van, truck and bus manufacturers based in Europe: BMW Group, DAF Trucks, Daimler Truck, Ferrari, Ford of Europe, Honda Motor Europe, Hyundai Motor Europe, Iveco Group, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Renault Group, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen Group and Volvo Group.
- Visit www.acea.auto for more information about ACEA and follow us at www.twitter.com/ACEA_auto or www.linkedin.com/company/ACEA/.
- Contact: Francesca Piazza, Senior Statistics Manager, fp@acea.auto.
About the EU car industry
- 13.0 million Europeans work in the automotive sector
- 11.5% of all manufacturing jobs in the EU
- 374,600 million euros in tax revenue for European governments
- Trade surplus of 79.5 billion euros for the European Union
- Almost 8% of EU GDP generated by the car industry
- 58.8 billion euros annually in R&D, 32% of the EU total
Registration of passenger cars
