End of aid hampers EV sales in Europe

Cold water jug ​​in Europe electric cars. The trend of continued strong growth seen in recent years came to an abrupt halt last December whenmonthly departure from April 2020.

Data published yesterday by the publication European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) show a change in the recent growth trend in electricity sales. Thus, in Europe as a whole (including the UK), 205,980 electric vehicles were sold, which is 25.4% less than in December 2022.

Achea notes that this decline is justified by the high volumes recorded in the same month of the previous year, but also points to the collapse that occurred in Germany after its government’s decision to end assistance for the purchase of this type of car. GermanyEurope’s first electric vehicle market, experienced a 47.6% drop in EV deliveries in the final month of last year, leaving nearly 50,000 vehicles remaining.

The German government announced in December its decision to end support for the purchase of electric vehicles, reversing the strategy most European markets had been following and opening the door for other countries to emulate the position. This puts pressure on Car brandswho will be forced to cut the price of electric vehicles if they are to meet the technology’s ambitious commercial targets under European rules that require no emissions-inducing new cars and vans to be sold from 2035.

Overall, European EV deliveries did grow in 2023, up 28.2% to more than 2 million units, although the 40% growth that accumulated until November last year has slowed.

Only in December European market Overall, it was down 3.8% to 1.04 million units.

Gasoline, favorites

While the focus is on electric vehicles and manufacturers are betting on increasing the technology’s representation in overall sales, petrol models continued to be the most popular among European buyers in December and throughout 2023.

Car sales until December 2023 petrol They grew by 10.7% to 4.58 million units, occupying 35.7% of the market. Thus they are superior hybridswhich were the second preferred option among Europeans, concentrating 26.4% of the total market with 3.39 million units, an increase of 28.3%, as well electricwhich increased their annual number of registrations by 28.2% and accounted for 15.7% of total registrations.

Gasoline, hybrid and electric models all topped sales. diesel cars For the year as a whole, they agreed to an 11.9% stake in 2023, amounting to 1.53 million units, down 6.4%.

plug-in hybridswere in turn, along with diesel, another market segment that lowered its commercial records during 2023, declining by 2.4% to reach commercial volumes of 989,937 vehicles.