European car market grows in May as electric vehicles continue to dominate

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The European passenger car market grew by 1.9% in May compared to the same month last year, with 1.12 million new automobile registrations, according to data released Wednesday by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

Among the EU, UK and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) area's major car markets, Spain led with an 18.6% increase, followed by the Netherlands with a 7.3% rise, the UK with 1.6% and Germany with 1.2%.

However, France and Italy posted declines of 12.3% and 0.1%, respectively.

Electric vehicles continued to drive market growth. Battery-electric vehicle (BEV) sales surged 27.2% year-on-year in May, reaching 193,493 units and accounting for 15.4% of total new car sales.

Germany saw a 44.9% rise in BEV sales, while Spain and Poland recorded even higher gains of 104.1% and 118.3%, respectively.

Hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) further cemented their dominance, accounting for 35.1% of the EU market in May. Registrations of HEVs soared 14.2% to 379,150 units.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) also showed robust growth, with sales rising 46.1% to 108,147 units.

On the other hand, traditional internal combustion engine vehicles saw sharp declines. Petrol car registrations fell 19.5%, with a market share of 28.6%.

Diesel car registrations posted worse results, plummeting by 27.6% and reducing their market share to 9.5% in May. Double-digit declines were recorded in most European markets.