Following the July 2023 results, the EU car market has recorded 12 consecutive months of growth for new passenger car registrations, according to the latest data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). Report by ILM.

New car registrations in July alone totalled 851,156 units, with growth in most of the major markets including an increase of 19.9% in France, 18.1% in Germany, 10.7% in Spain and 8.7% in Italy.

For the year so far, registrations were up by 17.6% to 6.3 million units. However, despite continuous growth, January-July volumes remain 22% down on the same period of pre-pandemic 2019.
Growth for the seven-month period was 21.9% in Spain, 20.9% in Italy, 15.8% in France and 13.6% in Germany.

The market share of battery-electric cars was up to 13.6% in July 2023 from 9.8% in July 2022, up by 60.6% to 115,971 units. Growth was 68.9% in Germany, 32.5% in France and an impressive 235.9% in Belgium. Battery-electric car sales were up by 54.7% in the year-to-date to 819,725 units.

Hybrid-electric car registrations increased by 31.6% in July, with growth of 46.6% in Germany, 32.8% in Spain and 16.7% in Italy. For the year so far, growth was 28.5% to almost 1.6 million units.

EU plug-in hybrid car registrations were up by 14.5% in July to 67,060 units with performance strong in the Netherlands (up by 107.6%), France (up 80%) and Spain (up 42.7%), offset by a decline of 39.5% in Germany.

Petrol cars grew by 5% in July to 304,903 units, while market share fell from 35.8% to 39.2%. Growth was 16.4% in France and 12.5% in Germany. For January-July 2023, growth was 14.3% to more than 2.3 million units.

Finally, diesel cars declined by 9.1% in July despite growth of 2.7% in Germany, 36.1% in Slovakia and 19.8% in Romania. Market share for diesel cars stands at 14.1%, down from 17.9% in July 2022.