New car sales in the European Union rose 4.3 per cent in June to their highest since July 2019, driven by an uptick in major markets Italy, Germany, and Spain, while registrations of battery electric cars fell marginally, data from Europe's auto industry body showed on Thursday.
The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (Acea) said a rise in registrations of battery electric cars in Belgium and Italy, of 50.4 per cent and 117.4 per cent respectively, failed to offset double digit declines in Germany, the Netherlands and France.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
Top European carmakers are betting on car sales to pick up over the year, despite cooling electric vehicle (EV) demand after several years of strong growth and warnings that the global market will be tough.
BY THE NUMBERS
Sales of battery electric and plug-in cars in June fell by an annual 1 per cent and 19.9 per cent respectively in the EU, while those of hybrid-electric cars grew 26.4 per cent, the Acea data showed.
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In the first six months of the year registrations of battery electric cars rose 1.3 per cent.
EVs - whether fully electric, plug-in hybrids or full hybrids - sold in the EU accounted for 50 per cent of all new passenger car registrations in June, up from 47.5 per cent a year earlier.
Car registrations at Europe's three largest carmakers Volkswagen, Stellantis, and Renault grew by 4.7 per cent, 0.4 per cent and 6.2 per cent respectively in June.
CONTEXT
Germany, the bloc's largest EV market, in December brought an early end to subsidies for buying EVs as part of a last-minute 2024 budget deal.
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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)