October new car registrations inch up as Spain and Germany see rebound

New car registrations in the EU inched up 1.1% in October, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA)’s latest report, released on Thursday.

This increase was mainly because of a rebound in Germany, where registrations grew 6%, after three months of decreasing sales. Spain also experienced strong registration numbers, with a 7.2% boost. However, Italian car registrations fell 9.1%, and car registrations in France also fell 11.1%. 

New car registration numbers advanced 0.7% in the EU in the first 10 months of the year, hitting about 8.9 million units. Italian new car registrations inched up 0.9% during this period, whereas Spanish ones also rose 4.9%. 

However, German new car registrations dropped 0.4% in the first 10 months of the year, whereas French ones also dipped 2.7%. 

Sigrid de Vries, the director general of ACEA, said in an email: “The latest year-to-date figures on market volume for battery electric (-4.9%) and plug-in hybrid cars (-7.9%) have underlined the urgent and critical need to increase our efforts to support the transition to zero-emissions vehicles.

“We need concrete action that will overcome a lack of consumer uptake and resolve the issues that are preventing citizens from joining us in this transition: high energy prices, lack of incentives, an inadequate network of charging stations and insufficient grids, as highlighted in a recent report.”

Battery-electric vehicle sales drop in the first 10 months of 2024

Year-to-date battery-electric vehicle (BEV) volumes in the EU dropped 4.9% in the first 10 months of the year, compared to the same time in 2023, mainly pressurised by registrations in Germany dropping 26.6%. At present, BEVs account for about 14.4%

However, battery-electric car registrations in October increased 2.4%, coming up to 124,907 units. 

Plug-in hybrid car volumes also fell 7.9% in the first 10 months of the year, compared with the same time in 2023, mainly because of disappointing performance in Italy and France. Similarly, registrations for plug-in hybrid cars also dropped 7.2% in October, bringing their market share down to 7.7% of the total automotive market, from 8.4% last October. 

Demand for electric vehicles (EVs)  has been suffering in the last several months worldwide, but especially in the EU. This is mainly following the EU imposing higher tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle makers, amid allegations of the Chinese government heavily subsidising these companies. 

This has made electric vehicles by companies such as BYD, Geely and SAIC, which were originally much cheaper than European EVs, much more expensive. As such, European consumers who are already dealing with a rising cost of living and higher interest rates, have become increasingly more hesitant to purchase EVs. 

A slowing global economy and rising geopolitical uncertainty has also contributed significantly to this dampened consumer sentiment.