EU car registrations slightly down in November, EV sales hesitate

According to data from the Association of European Car Manufacturers ACEA, new EU car registrations fell by 1.9% in November 2024. France led the way with a sharp 12.7% decline, followed by Italy (-10.8%), while the German market stagnated slightly (-0.5%). Only Spain recorded positive growth among the four most significant EU markets (+6.4%).

Eleven months into 2024, new car registrations remained stable (+0.4%), reaching 9.7 million units. While the market in Spain performed positively (+5.1%), declines were witnessed in France (-3.7%), Germany (-0.4%), and Italy (-0.2%).

Electric

The battery-electric car market share for November 2024 fell to 15% from 16.3% last year, while volumes dropped by 9.5%. Registrations of battery-electric cars declined to 130,757 units.

This drop was primarily driven by a significant decrease in registrations in Germany (-21.8%) and France (-24.4%). It resulted in a year-to-date market volume 5.4% lower than last year, with the total market share now at 13.4%.

Countries where EVs are still thriving are Belgium (+18.4% in November), Czechia (+57.8%), Denmark (+21.3%), Greece (+149.7%), Hungary (+22.3%), Ireland (+57.7%), and the Netherlands (+41.8%). Of course, these are all smaller countries with lower absolute numbers, so they cannot counter the decline in the big ones.

Hybrid

Plug-in hybrid car registrations fell by 8.8% last month, following significant declines in France (-19.6%), Belgium (-61.4%), and Italy (-31.4%). In November, plug-in hybrids accounted for 7.6% of the car market, down from 8.1% last year. Year-to-date volumes were also down, decreasing by 8% compared to the previous year’s period.

Hybrid-electric registrations increased (again) by 18.5% in November, with market share rising to 33.2%, up from 27.5% last November. This exceeded gasoline car registrations for the third consecutive month. Once again, we see that so-called self-charging hybrid cars are the only car species that is continuously growing at the moment.

Gasoline and diesel

In November 2024, gasoline car sales dropped by 7.8%. All four major markets recorded decreases: France experienced the steepest drop, with registrations plummeting by 31.5%, followed by Italy with a 12.3% decline. Though more modest, Germany and Spain also recorded declines (-5.4% and -2.3%, respectively).

With 266,115 new cars registered last month, the gasoline market share dropped to 30.6%, down from 32.5% in the same month last year. The diesel car market declined by 15.3%, resulting in a 10.6% market share last November. Overall, decreases were observed in most EU markets.

EFTA plus UK

In the UK, all electrified car types are growing: BEVs by 17.9%, PHEVs by 19.6%, and HEVs by 15.1%. They compensate for the decline of ICE cars, resulting in a market total growth of 2.8%. The result is more mitigated in the EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland), but numbers are going down there, especially in Iceland (-41.6% overall, -68.7% for BEVs).

By brand

In November, Volkswagen Group remained the leader in the EU, increasing its market share to 27.8% (+1.6%). Stellantis remained second, but its market share decreased to 14.3% (-1.3%). The Renault Group, third, is catching up with a market share of 11.7% (+1.2%).

Toyota, 8.4%, up 1.4%, has finally left the Hyundai Group behind (7.3%, down from 8.2%). BMW is sixth with 7.2% (-0.4%), while Mercedes stays seventh with 6.0%. The rest of the top ten is formed by Ford (2.8%), Volvo (2.7%), and Tesla (2.2%, down from 3.6%).

Also noticeable is that Jaguar almost disappeared from the charts; it only sold 475 cars in the EU in November, and SAIC Motor is the most important Chinese brand with a 1.4% market share.

Looking at the first eleven months cumulated, we see the same hierarchy with the Volkswagen Group far above all others (26.7% market share), followed by struggling Stellantis (16.8%), Renault Group (10.8%), Toyota (8.0%) and Hyundai Group (7.9%).

Noticeable are the sales increases of Toyota (+16.6%), Volvo (+31.8%), Suzuki (+13.6%), Mitsubishi (+44.1%), and Honda (+22.8%), but for the latter two, we’re still talking relatively small numbers. Among the more significant losers in sales are Stellantis (-7.2%), Hyundai Group (-6.5%), Ford (-14%), and Tesla (-15.2%).