Few cars sold in Europe in March: -5.2% compared to

Car sales in Europe recorded a decline in March 2024. Compared to the same period last year, in fact, 5.2% fewer cars were sold (1.03 million against 1.09 million in March 2023). After two months of strong growth, with January and February closing with +12.1% and +10.1% respectively, March therefore represents the first decline of the year.

Strengthened by the already mentioned excellent data for January and February, the first quarter of 2024 nevertheless closed with positive data: almost 2.8 million cars registered in this first part of 2024, 4.4% more than in the first quarter of 2023. It remains to be understood, however, whether the March data represent an isolated episode or are instead a wake-up call for the coming months.

Registrations with a minus sign for all four major European markets. The UNRAE data had already photographed the -3.7% recorded by Italy, with Germany (-6.2%) and Spain (-4.7%) worse than the Bel Paese. The decrease in France was less pronounced (-1.5%). All nations, however, have a positive balance if we look at the total for the first three months.

Looking instead at the market share recorded by the various engines, the electric was chosen by 13% of buyers. As of March 2023 the share was 13.9%. The slowdown is therefore evident, with just 134,397 electric units registered in March.

In numerical terms, the decline was particularly pronounced in Germany where, in March 2024, 28.9% fewer electric vehicles were sold compared to March 2023. Thanks also to the excellent data from Belgium (+23.8%) and France ( +10.9%), however, the first quarter ended on a positive note, with 332,999 new electric cars (+3.8% compared to the same quarter last year).

Similar story if you look at plug-in hybrids. In this case, 73,029 units were sold in March, with a decrease of 6.5% compared to March 2023 and a share of the total of 7.1%.

Looking instead at combustion engines, the shares of the hybrid are increasing, strong by the +29.6% recorded in France and the +8.3% recorded in Italy. On the other hand, sales of petrol and diesel are falling, with a share of 35.4% for petrol (in March 2023 it was 37.4%) and 12.4% for diesel respectively. Diesel now largely overtaken by electric by market share.