EU: Car Market +18.7, Electric Vehicles on the Rise

The recovery of the car market continues in Western Europe, and the percentage of sold electric vehicles in the total number is getting more significant. Taking into account the EU, UK, and EFTA (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein) markets, 1,265,678 new cars were registered in June 2023, which is 18.7% more than in the same month of 2022.

According to ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association), the growth was stable throughout the first half of 2023, with 6,588,937 vehicles sold, up 17.6% from the previous year. And the number of customers opting for electric vehicles is becoming increasingly important: 158,252 vehicles were registered in June, which is up 66.2% from the same month in 2022, with a market share of 15.1%, compared to just 10.7% last year.

This data, while encouraging in a time of crisis and general uncertainty, nonetheless should be put into perspective. In fact, according to ACEA, this sector is still far from leaving the tunnel.

Greater affordability of vehicles in 2023 is actually the main reason for these rising numbers, but this is compared to 2022, a certainly negative year for the sector: the 17.6% increase in registrations in the first half of 2022 becomes sharply negative compared to 2019, the pre-pandemic year (-21%).

The best performance in the first half of the year was demonstrated by Spain (+24%), Italy (+22.8%), Great Britain (+18.4%), France (+15.3%), and Germany (+12.8%).