European car sales up 0.9% in 2024, Renault overtakes Stellantis in December, ACEA says Reuters
Author: Alessandro Parodi
(Reuters) – New car sales in Europe rose 0.9% in 2024, led by double-digit growth in hybrid car registrations, which outpaced gasoline car sales for the fourth straight month in December, industry data showed on Tuesday.
Renault (EPA:) market share on the continent overtook Stellantis (NYSE:)’ for the first month since the Franco-Italian group was founded in January 2021, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association ( ACEA (BIT:)) showed.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Europe’s car market is going through a complicated transition to electric vehicles, as sales growth for electric vehicles has been disappointing and carmakers oppose measures to encourage consumers to abandon combustion engines, such as CO2 emissions rules that come into effect this year.
European carmakers also lament high production costs and increasing competition from China.
BY THE NUMBERS
December sales in the European Union, Britain and the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) rose by 4.1% year-on-year to 1.1 million cars sold.
Registrations at Volkswagen (ETR:) and Renault increased by 4.9% and 16.6% respectively, while at Stellantis they fell by 6.7%.
Renault’s market share in Europe rose to 11.9%, while Stellantis fell to 11.6%.
In the EU, December sales increased by 5.1%, as registrations of hybrid electric cars (HEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) increased by 33.1% and 4.9%, respectively, while fully electric cars (BEVs) falls by 10.2%.
Electric vehicles – either BEV, HEV or PHEV – sold in the block accounted for 57.7% of passenger car registrations in December, up from 53.3% a year earlier.
Among the EU’s largest markets, Spain led growth with growth of 28.8%, while Germany and Italy continued to decline, down 7.1% and 4.9% respectively.
CONTEXT
ACEA’s new president, Ola Kaellenius, said last Thursday that the CO2 targets for cars were based on expectations of a rise in demand for electric vehicles that had not happened and called on political leaders to provide ideas.
US President Donald Trump said in his inaugural speech on Monday that he would roll back regulations put in place by the Biden administration, which Trump calls the “EV mandate”, confirming recommendations from his transition team first reported by Reuters in December.
