New car registrations in the European Union dipped slightly in May 2024, down 3% compared to the same month last year. This decline was driven by three major markets: Italy (-6.6%), Germany (-4.3%), and France (-2.9%). However, Spain defied the trend with a modest increase of 3.4%.
Looking at the bigger picture, the year isn’t all bad for the EU car market. Year-to-date registrations are actually up 4.6% compared to the first five months of 2023, reaching 4.6 million units. All four major markets mirrored this positive trend, with Spain leading the pack (+6.8%), followed by Germany (+5.2%), France (+4.9%), and Italy (+3.4%).
Electric vehicles showed a mixed performance. Battery-electric (BEV) car registrations dipped in May, accounting for 12.5% of the market share, down from 13.8% the previous year.
While Belgium and France saw BEV growth (44.8% and 5.4% respectively), Germany and the Netherlands experienced significant declines (-30.6% and -11.7%). However, year-to-date registrations for BEVs remain positive with a 2% increase compared to 2023.
Plug-in hybrids followed a similar pattern to BEVs in May, with a 14.7% drop in registrations. This decline was particularly pronounced in Belgium (-36.6%) and France (-19.4%). Germany, however, managed a small increase of 1.7%. Despite the overall decline, plug-in hybrids still hold a 6.5% market share.
The bright spot for the electrified vehicle market was hybrid-electrics. This segment saw a surge in May, with registrations jumping 16.2%. France (+38.3%), Spain (+25.4%), and Italy (+7.4%) all experienced strong growth, pushing the hybrid-electric market share to nearly 30%, up from 25% in May 2023. Germany was the only major market to see a slight decrease (-0.7%) for hybrids.
[source: ACEA]
