2024 car sales in the Netherlands, France, Denmark and Norway

In the Netherlands, car sales slightly increased (+3.1%) in 2024 thanks to a final sprint. In France, the market is receding, and sales of electric cars are stagnating, in stark contrast to hybrid ones.

Denmark continues its progress toward electrification, and Norway remains the absolute champion for electric cars worldwide.

The Netherlands

In 2024, 381,227 cars were newly registered in the Netherlands, 3.1 more than the 369,631 units in 2023. This was thanks to a final sprint in December when 37,087 cars were registered, 40.3% more than in 2023. Concentrating on last year’s sales, we see that 42% of them are hybrid cars, slightly more than purely electric cars.

Looking at the entire Dutch market, petrol cars are still the leading force, with 75.1% of all cars on the road, followed by hybrids (11%), diesel cars (7.4%), and fully electric vehicles (5.4%).

With a market share of 9.1%, Kia is the market leader in the Netherlands. 56.3% of their cars sold were electrified, and 26.9% of the entire sales volume was purely electric. The top three models were the Niro, the Picanto, and the Sportage.

France

With 1,718,416 new car registrations in France last year, the market receded by 3.2% in 2024 compared to 2023. Purely electric cars also slightly regressed (-2.2%), while hybrid cars made serious progress (+42.8%).

According to Marc Mortureux, general director of the car platform PFA, there will be a big problem in 2025 because of the EU CO2 targets. To reach them in France, the market share of fully electric cars has to increase to 22%, while it has stagnated at 17% in 2024. Of course, the fact that the (very short) government led by Michel Barnier has lowered the bonuses for electric cars won’t help.

Looking at the brands, Stellantis group is losing market share in France, Renault is holding on, and Toyota is progressing by getting two models into the top ten in sales.

Denmark

In Denmark, some 173,000 new cars were registered and 51.5% of them were purely electric. This development will continue in 2025, when more than 70% of car sales are expected to be electric.

Norway

But that’s still nothing compared to Norway, where 88.9% of newly registered cars in 2024 were electric. It is important to note that combustion engines are not banned in Norway from 2025, as is often described, but the political goal is to achieve a 100% market share of BEVs in the new car market.

The Norwegian Road Information Authority (OVF) esteems that “it may be difficult to reach the final percentages to achieve the 2025 target”. The organization sends a clear message to the government that it is necessary to maintain incentives that offer benefits for purchasing electric cars, such as VAT exemption. In contrast, taxes on ICE cars will increase from 1 April 2025.

What is slightly weird is that renting companies are still buying the most ICE cars for their fleets because they are afraid foreign tourists will not like to drive electrically during their visit to Norway.