Europe suffers sharp sales decline

According to data from 26 European markets, new car registrations recorded a year-on-year decline of 24% in July, as total volume decreased from 1.27 million units to 967,830.

The year-to-date results remain positive, up by 17% compared to 2020 with 7,381,735 units registered, but this is still down by 24% when compared with January to July 2019.

Felipe Munoz, global analyst at JATO Dynamics, said: “Despite the efforts of national governments to boost consumer confidence, the impact of the pandemic is still being felt by the industry.”

However, in contrast to the overall trend, consumers in Europe continued to buy more low emissions vehicles. In July, a total of 160,646 BEV and PHEV vehicles were registered, accounting for almost 17% of total registrations.

This is the second highest monthly market share after June 2021, and the third highest ever in Europe.

Munoz said: “Consumers continue to respond positively to the deals and incentives attached to EVs which have made these vehicles far more competitive in terms of their pricing. But despite becoming increasingly popular, consumer uptake has not been enough to offset the big drops posted by diesel cars.”