The Trend Of Environmentally Friendly Vehicles Increases In The European Union

JAKARTA - The sale of new cars in the European Union (EU) showed a significant increase during the first four months of this year. Interestingly, 1 of the 10 cars purchased by consumers is electric vehicles (EV, PHEV, and hybrid). This means that the shift in consumer interest in vehicles that are more environmentally friendly has increased dramatically.

Based on data compiled until April 2024, a total of 3.7 million new cars were registered across the EU. This figure, reported by Carscoops, May 29, shows an increase of 6.6 percent compared to the same period last year. The increase in new car sales has been evenly distributed across the European continent, especially in countries such as Germany and Spain (both up 7.8 percent), France (up 7 percent), and Italy (up 6.1 percent).

Fueled vehicles and diesel are still the most selected consumers, but the proportion is starting to decline. In April 2024, the market share of gasoline and diesel cars reached 48.9 percent, down from 52.8 percent in April 2023. This decline was offset by an increase in the market share of hybrid vehicles, from 24.9 percent to 29.1 percent.

Interestingly, sales of gasoline cars surprisingly increased by 7.3 percent last month, reaching 328,967 units. This increase was mainly driven by market growth in Spain (+24.1 percent), Germany (+18.6 percent), and Italy (+14.1 percent).

Meanwhile, the diesel car market tends to stagnate with sales of 118,000 units in April 2024, which is equivalent to 13 percent market share. Despite a significant increase of 28.1 percent in Germany, diesel car sales actually fell in other countries such as Italy (down 21.1 percent), Spain (down 19.3 percent), and France (down 18.1 percent).

On the other hand, consumer interest in electric vehicles continues to increase across the EU. hybrid car sales jumped by 33.1 percent in April 2024, driven by increased demand in France (48.1 percent), Spain (38.5 percent), and Germany (25.9 percent). A total of 265,992 hybrid cars were sold that month.

Sales of plug-in hybrid cars (PHEVs) also increased by 3.7 percent last month, with a total of 62,148 units sold. As for pure electric cars (BEVs), registration of new vehicles jumped 14.8 percent to 108,552 units in April 2024. The highest increase occurred in France (45.2 percent) and Belgium (41.6 percent). Even so, the overall share of the pure electric car market still stands at 11.9 percent. If viewed accumulatively from January to April 2024, a total of 441,992 units of pure electric cars were registered across the EU, which showed an increase of 6.4 percent.