ACEA: Battery-electric car sales slip amid EU market decline

Brussels – In terms of power source, March saw a shift in the composition of the EU car market with battery-electric shares slipping to 13% from last year’s 13.9%.

Hybrid-electrics, however, charged up to 29% of the market from 24.4% a year ago, while petrol (35.4%) and diesel (12.4%) combined lost 4% market-share, ACEA* reported 18 April.

Meanwhile, the European car market experienced its first decline of the year in March, registering a 5.2% year-on-year decrease to 1 million units.

The Easter holidays negatively impacted the month’s sales across most EU markets, including the four largest, of which only Germany reported a 6.2% positive development.

Spain, Italy and France saw year-on-year declines of 4.7%, 3.7%, and 1.5% during the month.

For the first quarter of the year, car registrations increased by 4.4%, reaching nearly 2.8 million units.

The bloc’s major markets saw solid growth from January to March, with Italy and France each recording a 5.7% increase, followed by Germany at 4.2% and Spain at 3.1%.

*ACEA is the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.