Electrics drive rise in new car sales in Europe
New car sales have risen four per cent in Europe in the first five months of the year.
According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association there were 1,065,071 new cars registered in the last five months.
The uptick was driven by growing demand for electrified vehicles, with hybrids accounting for 38% of all sales so far this year and pure electric vehicles sales increasing from 15% last year to 20%.
Meanwhile, plug-in hybrids made up nearly 10% of all new car sales.
The ACEA found that hybrid sales rose to 1,795,071 units, with a further 950,521 and 460,217 electric and hybrid registrations.
Meanwhile, the combined market share of petrol and diesel cars declined to 30% from 38%.
Petrol sales fell by 18% with their market share decreasing from 28% to 22%, while diesel sales were down almost 17% to account for seven per cent of all sales compared to just under 10% this time last year.
