The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (Acea) has reported a significant 13.7% jump in new car sales in the EU market last month.
According to ACEA, new car registrations totalled 913,995 units in April, with all major markets contributing to this growth.
New car sales in Spain rose 23.1% while Germany, Italy and France registered increases of 19.8%, 7.7%, and 10.9%, respectively.
The rise in new car sales can be attributed to two additional sales days in April 2024, as opposed to last year when the Easter holidays impacted the sales period, ACEA noted.
In the first four months of the year, the European car market also saw a steady increase in new car registrations, with a 6.6% rise reaching 3.7 million units.
Germany and Spain led the growth in the region’s largest markets, each with a 7.8% increase, followed closely by France at 7% and Italy at 6.1%.
Notably, battery-electric car registrations climbed by 14.8% to 108,552 units in April, maintaining a market share of around 12%.
France and Belgium witnessed substantial growth in battery-electric car registrations, with increases of 45.2% and 41.6%, respectively, while Germany’s figures remained stable.
From January to April, the total number of new battery-electric cars registered was 441,992, representing a 6.4% increase from the last year while hybrid-electric car registrations increased by 33.1% in April.
France, Spain, Germany, and Italy, all recorded double-digit increases, pushing the hybrid-electric market share to 29.1%.
ACEA reported a modest increase of 3.7% in plug-in hybrid car registrations in April.
Despite a 17.6% decline in Belgium and stability in France, the segment maintained its balance with a 28.4% rise in Germany’s performance.
Plug-in hybrids represented 6.8% of the total car market, with nearly 62,148 units sold.
Petrol car sales grew by 7.3% to 328,967 units, with Spain, Germany, and Italy showing double-digit gains. However, petrol cars’ market share declined from 38.1% to 36%.
The diesel car market remained steady at 13%, despite a substantial decline of 21.1%, 18.1%, and 19.3% in Italy, France, and Spain, respectively. It was offset by a significant 28.2% increase in Germany.
