Automotive News Europe — 2024-04-18
Automotive Industry
Sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles rose nearly 1%, outpacing BEVs and gasoline and diesel models.
New-car sales in Europe fell 2.8% in March 2024 as automakers including Volkswagen Group and Stellantis faced weaker demand, particularly for electric vehicles.
New-vehicle registrations dropped to 1.38 m units in March 2024 in the EU, EFTA and UK markets, the industry body ACEA said Thursday, 18 April 2024, in a statement.
Sales of battery electric cars fell 11% as consumers in Germany, Sweden and Norway cooled.
The decline, due in part to the timing of Easter, is the second in four months and underscores the pressure automakers face amid higher interest rates, weaker economic growth and the phasing out of generous subsidies to stoke demand for EVs.
VW, Mercedes-Benz and Tesla have all reported lower EV sales in the first quarter of 2024.
The trend is pushing some traditional automakers to rethink when they will phase out combustion engines, and others have backtracked on EV targets.
In February 2024, Mercedes pushed back its sales forecast and now expects BEVs to be stuck at less than half of its sales for longer than anticipated.
The impact of the slowdown has been starkest at Tesla, which this week said it will shed more than 10% of its global workforce.
Italy’s EV sales declined 34% in March 2024 as customers held back purchases in anticipation of possible new subsidies under consideration by the government.
Germany’s EV sales slumped 29%, even as manufacturers such as VW introduced their own rebates in a bid to compensate for the country’s aid cuts.
While a range of new BEVs convinced a greater number of buyers in markets including France and UK, sub-par charging infrastructure remains a roadblock to more widespread adoption.
Some customers are turning to models with both a battery and a combustion engine: Sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles rose 0.7% in March 2024, outpacing not just full-electric cars but also models running on gasoline.
Sales of gasoline cars in the region dropped 8% while diesel cars registrations plunged as much as 18%.