In November 2023, the EU’s car market grew by a modest but reasonably robust 6.7%. Despite a relatively low base of comparison, solid growth persisted, marking the sixteenth consecutive month of expansion.
There were substantial double-digit gains in some markets, including two of the largest: Italy (+16.2%) and France (+14%). Conversely, the German car market retracted, recording a 5.7% decline compared to November 2022.
Eleven months into 2023, new car registrations increased by a significant 15.7%, reaching nearly ten million units. With the exception of Hungary, all EU markets grew during this eleven-month period. The four largest markets notably contributed to this trend: Italy (+20%), Spain (+17.3%), France (+16.2%), and Germany (+11.4%).
New EU car registrations by power source
In November, the battery-electric car market share increased to 16.3%, a rise from 15% last year. The year-to-date share now holds steady at 14.2%, consistently surpassing diesel, which remained at 13.7%. Hybrid-electric cars were ranked second with a 27.4% market share, while petrol cars maintained their lead at 32.7%.
Electric cars
In November 2023, EU registrations of new battery-electric cars surged by 16.4%, totalling 144,378 units. Several markets contributed to this growth with double and triple-digit percentage gains, most notably Belgium (+150.2%), which is now the fifth-largest market by volume. However, battery-electric car sales experienced a setback in Germany, declining by 22.5%. Despite this, the year-to-date volume reached nearly 1.4 million units, reflecting a substantial 48.2% increase compared to the previous year, representing a 14.2% share of the EU car market in this period.
In November, new EU registrations of hybrid-electric cars surged by 28.7%, driven by double-digit growth in the three largest markets: Germany (+38.4%), France (+35.8%), and Italy (+30.2%). This led to a cumulative 29.9% increase, reaching almost 2.5 million units sold as of November – over a quarter of the EU market share.
In contrast, sales of plug-in hybrid electric cars declined by 22.1% to 72,002 units last month. Despite notable increases in Belgium (+43.8%) and France (+17.8%), these gains were insufficient to offset Germany’s substantial decline (-59.3%) – the largest market for this power source. Consequently, the market share of plug-in hybrid cars fell from 11.1% last year to 8.1% in November this year.
Petrol and diesel cars
In November 2023, the EU petrol car market grew by 4.2%, despite a continual decline in market share, which stood at 32.7% last month. Key markets like Italy (+20.2%) and Germany (+12.5%) saw significant sales increases, contributing to this overall growth. This resulted in a cumulative volume of 3.5 million units sold, reflecting an 11.1% increase and a 35.7% market share over the eleven-month period.
Conversely, the EU’s diesel car market continued its downward trend in November, contracting by 10.3%. This decline was observed in most of the bloc’s markets, including the four largest: France (-28.3%), Spain (-22.8%), Italy (-7.4%), and Germany (-1%). Despite this overall decline, diesel car sales grew in certain Central and Eastern European markets, such as Poland (+13.8%). In November, diesel cars represented a market share of 12.2%, down from 14.5% in the same month last year.
