In March 2024, new vehicle sales in Europe (EU+EFTA+UK) failed to maintain the strong level in January and February. Sales in March decreased by 2.8% y/y to 1,383,410 units, down from 1.4 million units. On a year-on-year basis, the upward trend continues. Total sales from January to March 2023 reached 1,423,222 units. This represents a year-on-year increase of 4.9%.
Of the five major markets, the UK was the only one to see growth in March.
- UK year-on-year growth of 10.4%
- France down 1.5% year-on-year
- Italy down 3.7% year-on-year
- Spain down 4.7% year-on-year
- Germany fell by 6.2% year-on-year.
BEV is not performing well. Sales fell 11% year-on-year to 196,411 units, down 200,000 units. The market share fell to 14.2% from 15.5% in March 2023.
- PHEV models increased by 0.7% year-on-year to 99,867 units
- HEV sales surged 15.4% to 423,993 units
- Gasoline-powered vehicles decreased by 8.2% y/y to 491,892 units
- Diesel car sales were down 18.4% y/y to 139,826 units
In terms of NEV penetration, France has the highest penetration rate among the five major European markets. In March,
- In France, the market share of plug-in electric vehicles (PHEV+BEV) is 28%, BEVs are 19%, and PHEVs are 9%.
- In the U.K., the market share of plug-in electric vehicles (PHEV+BEV) is 22.9%, BEVs are 15.2%, and PHEVs are 7.7%
- In Germany, the market share of plug-in electric vehicles (PHEV+BEV) is 18%, BEVs are 11.9%, and PHEVs are 6.1%
- The market share of plug-in electric vehicles (PHEV+BEV) in Spain is 10.3%, 4.4% for BEVs, and 5.9% for PHEVs
- Italian plug-in electric vehicle (PHEV+BEV) market share is 6.8%, BEV is 3.3%, and PHEV is 3.5%
In terms of the group, the Volkswagen Group still has an absolute advantage, although it fell by 6.6% year-on-year, but its sales still exceeded 320,000 units. That's nearly 100,000 more than the second-ranked Stellantis. Stellantis fell even more, down 8.7% year-on-year. However, it still retains second place.
The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance has been positive. Bucking the trend, it grew by 11.6%. The largest increase was recorded by Volvo, with an increase of 32.5 percent, an increase of almost a third.
Tesla is no more. It fell 34.9% year-on-year, a one-third of the decline in stocks. Ford, also from the United States, also fell quite a bit. The year-on-year decline reached 21.7%.
In terms of brands, the best performing Chinese brand is MG MG. A year-on-year increase of 8.50%, with sales of 25,992 vehicles. The ranking climbed 2 levels and stood in 20th place.
The first to come out on top is still Volkswagen. However, the year-on-year decline of 6.6% was larger-than-average. Toyota is doing well. The year-on-year growth rate was 8.6%, which is the largest growth among the top 10 brands. With 95,358 units sold, it remained in second place.
BMW also bucked the trend. Sales increased by 7.7% year-on-year, with sales exceeding 80,000 units. The ranking rose two levels from February to third place. Mercedes-Benz and Renault were also relatively positive. They increased by 3.2 per cent and 6.3 per cent, respectively.
Peugeot did not perform well. It fell 12.7% year-on-year, a decline of more than 1%. The ranking fell from third in February to sixth place. Audi fell more functional. It fell by 20.3% year-on-year, a decline of more than one-fifth.