Electric vehicles increase their share of European market

Alina Oprea

4 September, 2023 at 10:25 AM

According to the latest EU data, the car market continues its upward trend, with sales surging in July for the twelfth consecutive month of growth. While most sales were for gasoline cars, the next category was hybrid electric vehicles, which outsold diesel cars, eToro analyst Bogdan Maioreanu says. From January to July 2023, new car registrations in the EU increased significantly (+17.6%), totaling 6.3 million units. Despite signs of the European auto industry recovering from pandemic-related supply disruptions, year-to-date volumes are still 22% lower than in 2019, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA).

While petrol cars accounted for 36% of the market and diesels 14%, hybrids accounted for 26% and battery electric vehicles 14% (almost the same as types of diesel) followed by plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. in (PHEV) by 8%. Electric cars are on a growing trend.

In July, registrations of new battery electric cars in the EU increased substantially by 60.6% to 115,971 units, representing 13.6% of the market.

Sales in Romania were also impressive, increasing by 86.4%. Most EU markets for electric vehicles saw significant growth, with double- and triple-digit percentage increases, including Germany (+68.9%) and France (+32.4%). In particular, Belgium saw the highest sales, with an impressive 235.9% increase. Cumulatively, sales of battery electric cars in the EU saw a significant increase of 54.7% from January to July, with 819,725 units registered.

In the Community bloc, car sales were dominated by the Volkswagen group, with 27%, followed by Stellantis (Citroen, Peugeot, Opel, Jeep, etc.) with 17% and Renault 10%. Taken separately, Dacia represented 4.8% of total sales in July. Despite the increase in electric vehicle sales, Tesla accounted for only 1.6% of total sales, according to ACEA estimates, while its Chinese rival NIO was not even mentioned in the statistics.

Tesla and NIO are the first and second most-held shares by Romanian investors on the social investment platform eToro, while globally, Tesla is in first place and NIO in fourth. While Tesla's stock price is up nearly 138% this year, NIO shares are up just 11% year-to-date.