EU new car registrations slightly positive (+1.1%) in October

According to data from ACEA, the European Car Manufacturers Association, new EU car registrations reversed their decline in October 2024, recording a modest 1.1% increase. Registration of battery-electric vehicles rose by 2.4% in the last month.

Spain led the way with a robust 7.2% growth, while Germany rebounded with a 6% increase following three months of decline. Decreases were recorded in both France (-11.1%) and Italy (-9.1%).

Ten months into 2024, new car registrations remained stable (+0.7%), reaching 8.9 million units. The markets in Spain (+4.9%) and Italy (+0.9%) performed positively, while declines were witnessed in France and Germany (-2.7% and -0.4%, respectively).

By power source

Electric

Registrations of battery-electric cars rose by 2.4% to 124,907 units in October 2024. However, year-to-date market volume remained 4.9% lower than last year, with the total market share at 14.4%. This decline was primarily driven by a significant decrease in registrations in Germany (-26.6%).

Countries with a significant amount of BEVs that were (again) doing very well in October were Belgium (+47.8%), Denmark (+83.2%), the Netherlands (+32.2%), and Portugal (+28.2%). Also big climbers were Croatia, Czechia, Greece, and Malta, but we’re talking about much smaller absolute numbers here.

The big four once again provided a mitigated result, with France receding by 18%, Germany by 4.9%, Italy by 12.8%, and Spain by 5.7%.

Hybrid

Plug-in hybrid car (PHEV) registrations fell 7.2% last month, following significant declines in France (-26.9%) and Italy (-24.9%). In October, plug-in hybrids accounted for 7.7% of the car market, down from 8.4% last year. Year-to-date volumes were also down, decreasing by 7.9% compared to the previous year.

On the contrary, hybrid-electric (HEV) registrations increased by 17.5% in October, with market share rising to 33.3%, up from 28.6% last October. For the second consecutive month, hybrid-electric registrations exceeded petrol car registrations.

Countries where HEVs grew particularly well in October were Austria (+54.4%), Croatia (+48.4%), Estonia (+92.5%), France (+35.3%), Ireland (+44.4%), Lithuania (+52.2%), Luxembourg (+30.6%), the Netherlands (+21.3%), Portugal (+44.3%), Spain (+28.0%), and Sweden (+33.0%).

Petrol

In October 2024, petrol car sales dropped by 6.8% overall. France experienced the steepest drop, with registrations plummeting by 32.7%, followed by a 10.1% decline in Italy. Spain recorded a more modest decrease of 1.6%, while Germany was the only major market to show growth, with petrol car registrations increasing by 3.7%. Petrol cars now account for 30.8% of the market, down from 33.4% in the same month last year.

Diesel

The diesel car market declined by 7.6%, resulting in a 10.9% market share last October. Overall, decreases were observed in almost two-thirds of EU markets.

EFTA plus UK

Looking at the EFTA markets (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland), we see a very slow market in Iceland, a reviving Norway where BEVs (+44.5%) are dominating the market, and a mitigated Switzerland where BEVs are losing ground (-20.9%) and HEVs are the winner (+19.7%).

The UK market receded slightly in October (-6%), but BEVs (+24.5%) and HEVs (+7.4%) were the winners.

By make

In October, the Volkswagen Group did well, increasing its sales by 16.7%. When we consider the volume manufacturers in the group, only Audi receded. Stellantis Group stays second but lost 16.9% in sales. Renault Group, third, decreased slightly (-1.5%), while Toyota Group is in fourth place (+17.4%), overtaking Hyundai Group losing 11.9% in sales.

BMW Group is in its usual sixth place (+4.7%), followed by Mercedes-Benz (-1.0%), Ford (-7.9%), a thriving Volvo Cars (+24.1%), and Nissan (-13.7%), chasing Tesla (now 13th, -21%) from place ten. The American all-electric manufacturer is also overtaken by Suzuki and… the Chinese SAIC Motor. Once again, Jaguar saw its sales shrink by 68.7% and sold 260 cars in the whole of Europe in October.

Year to date, VW Group is further increasing its market share ( from 26.1% to 26.7%), which is not the case for Stellantis Group (down to 17.0% from 18.4%). Renault Group is stable at 10.8%, and Toyota Group (8.0%, up from 6.9%) has surpassed Hyundai Group (7.9%, down from 8.5%).

Sixth is BMW Group, with a stable 6.7% market share; seventh is Mercedes (5.2%), followed by Ford (3.0%, down from 3.5%), Volvo Cars (2.6%, up from 2.0%), overtaking Tesla (2.2%, down from 2.5%).