by Filomena Greco
Compared to January, an increase of 11.5%. Renault records a negative figure in January, leap of BMW, SAIC and Tesla to 1.7% of the market
2′ reading
The European car market is starting 2024 well with registrations in the EU, EFTA and UK areas exceeding one million in January, 11.5% more than in January 2023 but still 17% below the 2019. In almost all countries in the area, demand was supported above all by the purchases of corporate fleets, long-term rental companies and the purchases of electric cars facilitated by “generous incentives”, highlights the Promotor Study Center led by Gian First Quagliano.
Europe is therefore trying to reverse course compared to the negative sign recorded in December and is betting on hybrid models, which reach 30% of the market share. In the month, registrations of full electric cars were 120,926 with a growth of 29.3% on January 2023 and a market share of 11.9%, «significant, but still lower than that recorded in the whole of 2023 which is was 15.7%” says Promotor.
«In the whole area – adds Gian Primo Quagliano, president of the Centro Studi Promotor – private purchases are suffering and are strongly affected by the price increases of recent years. This situation partly explains the strong growth in long-term rental, which is also rapidly extending to private individuals.”
Comparison between manufacturers
Among the manufacturers, Stellantis grew more than the market (+16%) in the month thanks to the important contribution of all the brands except Fiat and DS which recorded negative performances. Volkswagen remains below the market average threshold (-8.1%) slowed by the minus sign of the German company’s main brand.
Renault recorded a sluggish performance in January and recorded a 2% drop in registrations, remaining in third position in terms of volumes on the European market, just behind Hyundai. The BMW Group recorded a real exploit in January (+29.7%) and was almost three points behind Mercedes which recorded a drop of 10 percent.
The Chinese SAIC consolidated a market share of 1.7% with a growth of 26% and joined Tesla which boasts the same presence on the market and a growth trend in registrations of 86.3 percent.
The growth in registrations does not affect all 31 countries in the area but is still sustained in the main five markets: Germany saw registrations grow by 19.1%, in France registrations grew by 9.2%, in the United Kingdom the increase was 8.2%, while in Spain the growth was 7.3% and in Italy 10.6 percent.