May 2024 Car Sales Drop 3% in EU

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During May 2024, car registrations in the European Union decreased by 3%, with drops in three out of the region’s four major markets: Italy (-6.6%), Germany (-4.3%), and France (-2.9%). Spain, posted slight growth of 3.4% last month.*

Registrations of battery-electric (BEV) cars declined by 12% to 114,308. The total EV market share dropping to 12.5%. Belgium – now the third-largest market by volume for BEVs – and France were the only key markets to record growth, at 44.8% and 5.4%, respectively. Germany (-30.6%) and the Netherlands (-11.7%) had significant declines. From January to May, a total of 556,276 new battery-electric cars were registered. This is a 2% increase from the same period last year, according to the ACEA trade group.**

“Plug-in hybrid car registrations also saw a decline of 14.7% last month, with significant decreases in two of the largest markets: Belgium (-36.6%) and France (-19.4%). Germany managed a modest increase of 1.7%, but this was not enough to offset the overall negative trend. In May, plug-in hybrids accounted for 6.5% of the total car market, with 59,333 units sold,” said ACEA.

However, hybrid-electric was the only segment growing, with car registrations increasing by 16.2% in May to more than 272,568. Three of the four largest markets for this segment – France (+38.3%), Spain (+25.4%), and Italy (+7.4%) posted gains. Germany declined -0.7%. The hybrid-electric market share ~ 30%, up from 25% in May 2023.

Fossil Fuels and Fossil Cars

In May 2024, petrol car sales decreased by 5.6% to 323,551 units, with notable declines in key markets such as France (-20.3%) and Spain (-1.8%). Italy and Germany posted modest growth rates of 4.1% and 2.1%, respectively. As a result, the petrol market share declined from 36.5% to 35.5% compared to May of the previous year.

The diesel car market dropped -11.4% to 118,733, accounting for 13% of the market. Significant decreases were observed in major markets – Italy (-30.5%), France (-24.8%), and Spain (-15.4%). Germany increased 3.2%.

*AutoInformed on

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**ACEA: The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) represents the 14 Europe-based car, van, truck and bus makers: BMW Group, DAF Trucks, Daimler Truck, Ferrari, Ford of Europe, Honda Motor Europe, Hyundai Motor Europe, Iveco Group, JLR, Mercedes-Benz, Renault Group, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen Group, and Volvo Group. Data source is ACEA, based on aggregated data provided by national automobile associations, ACEA members and S&P Global Mobility. Some of the interpretations above are AutoInformed’s.