New Car Sales in the EU Rise Slightly in July

By Alessandro Parodi and Greta Rosen Fondahn

(Reuters) – New car sales in the European Union rose 0.2% in July, slowed by declines in France and Germany, while battery-electric vehicles continued to lose market share, data from Europe’s auto industry body showed on Thursday.

Key Highlights

Improvements in the Belgian, Dutch, and French electric vehicle (EV) markets failed to offset a drop of almost 37% in Germany’s battery-electric sales, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA).

Importance

Car sales have shown mixed trends across the bloc, in part due to diverging policies on green incentives, while regulators have imposed hefty tariffs to try to keep out cheap Chinese EVs.

By the Numbers

Electrified vehicles – whether fully electric models, plug-in hybrids, or full hybrids – accounted for 50.9% of all new passenger car registrations in July, up from 47% a year earlier.

• However, sales of battery electric and plug-in cars fell by 10.8% and 14.1% respectively.
• Sales of hybrid electric cars jumped by 25.7%.
• The market share of hybrid electric cars totaled 32% in July, a significant increase from 25.5% a year prior.

Car registrations at Europe’s three largest carmakers, Volkswagen, Stellantis, and Renault, fell by 2.2%, 5.2%, and 1.7% respectively in July due to increased competition from China.

Sales of EV-maker Tesla dropped by 14.7%, whereas China’s SAIC Motor experienced a 24.2% increase.

Context

The European Commission cut its proposed tariff on imports of Tesla cars built in China to 9%, but plans for tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles of up to 36.3% remain in place.

Stellantis reported the biggest drop in sales among EU carmakers and a bigger-than-expected fall in revenue and operating profit for the first half, influenced by internal operational issues.

Sales of hybrid electric cars, viewed as a compromise between combustion and all-electric vehicles, have increased in the EU recently, catering to those looking for a more affordable and convenient alternative to EVs needing charging infrastructure.

Germany, the bloc’s largest EV market, in December ended subsidies for purchasing EVs as part of a budget deal for 2024.