New car sales down in first quarter
New car sales in the EU dropped by 1.9% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2024.
According to data from the ACEA, 779,817 new cars have been registered so far this year.
The electric car market accounted for 15.2% of the total EU market share, up from 12% in the first quarter of last year.
This represents a growth of 23.9%, with 412,997 unit sales.
Meanwhile, hybrid vehicle sales surged by nearly 21% to take 35.5% of the market, while the combined market share of petrol and diesel vehicles dropped from 48.3% to 38.3% in a year – representing a decline of 20.6%.
Petrol sales fell from 35.5% of the new car market to 28.7% and diesel was down to just 9.5%.
The plug-in hybrid market rose by 1.1% to 207,048 units.
