EU Car Market Sees Robust Growth in October 2023: Registrations Surge by 14.6% to 855,484 Units, Electric Car Sales Skyrocket, Diesel Declines Further

This marked the fifteenth consecutive month of growth, with notable double-digit percentage increases in three of the largest markets: France (+21.9%), Italy (+20%), and Spain (+18.1%). However, the German car market reported a more modest year-on-year increase of 4.9%.

Ten months into 2023, new car registrations were up by 16.7%, totalling almost nine million units. All markets grew during this ten-month period except for Hungary. Notably, the four largest markets: Italy (+20.4%), Spain (+18.5%), France (+16.5%), and Germany (+13.5%) contributed to this positive trend.

New EU car registrations by power source

In October, the market share of battery-electric cars rose to 14.2%, up from 12% in the same month last year. The year-to-date share now stands at 14%, surpassing diesel’s cumulative share for the first time. Hybrid-electric cars secured second spot with nearly 29% market share, while petrol cars maintained their lead, albeit decreasing to 33.4% in October.

Electric cars

In October 2023, EU registrations of battery-electric cars increased significantly, growing by 36.3% to reach 121,808 units. Several markets contributed to this expansion with triple-digit percentage increases, particularly Belgium (+147.3%) and Denmark (+100.7%). Following a slowdown in September, Germany – the largest market for battery-electric cars – grew modestly (+4.3%) in October. This brings the year-to-date volume to 1.2 million units, marking a noteworthy 53.1% gain compared to last year and capturing a 14% share of the EU car market over the ten-month period.

New EU registrations of hybrid-electric cars surged by 38.6% in October, propelled by substantial growth in the region’s top three markets: Germany (+57.9%), France (+40.1%), and Italy (+28%). This contributed to a cumulative increase of 29.8%, totalling 2.2 million units sold in the first ten months, representing over a quarter of the market.

Plug-in hybrid electric car sales dropped by 5% year on year to 72,002 units last month. Despite notable increases in Belgium (+70.2%) and France (+34.2%), this was insufficient to offset Germany’s decline (-49%), the largest market for this power source. As a result, the market share of plug-in hybrid cars decreased from 10.2% to 8.4% in October.

Petrol and diesel cars

In October 2023, the EU petrol car market grew by 8.1%, although its market share contracted from 35.4% to 33.4% compared to the same period last year. The significant surge in sales across key bloc markets, including Italy (+21%), France (+17.4%), Spain (+7.7%), and Germany (+7.5%), contributed to this increase.

On the other hand, the EU’s diesel car market continued its decline in October, decreasing by 13.2%. This decline was evident in most of the bloc’s markets, including the four largest: France (-29.4%), Spain (-20.2%), Germany (-4.6%), and Italy (-3.7%). Diesel cars now have a market share of 12%, down from 15.9% in October last year.