New car sales fall as EV interest plummets

Data from JATO Dynamics has revealed a 16% fall in new car sales in Europe in August compared to the same month last year, with electric vehicle sales crashing by 36% in a year.

It found that 753,482 new cars were registered across 28 European markets last month, down from 899,881 12 months ago.

This represents the largest year-on-year fall since June 2022, and although year-to-date sales of 8.64 million new cars is a marginal increase of 1.9% on the same period last year, JATO Dynamics is predicting further struggles for the industry.

Felipe Munoz, global analyst at JATO Dynamics, said:

“The industry is going to face further challenges in the coming months. Buyers are still grappling with the pressure to make the switch to electric, and EVs continue to be more expensive than already-pricey combustion engine cars. If this trend continues, the end-of-year results could present an overall decline in vehicle registrations.”

New car sales

August’s poor performance was negatively impacted by a dramatic drop of EV sales. A total of 125,070 units were registered in August, marking a 36% fall in year-on-year sales. As a result, EV market share fell from 21.8% in August 2023 to just 16.6%.

Those manufactures suffering the greatest drop in EV sales included Renault Group (-64%); SAIC (-65%); Stellantis (-52%); Hyundai-Kia (-51%); and Tesla (-44%). However, Chinese manufacturers Geely Group and BYD enjoyed increases of 52% and 18% respectively.

Munoz concluded:

“Appetite for BEVs among consumers is quickly diminishing. There are many factors contributing to this, including the lack of clarity around incentives, high prices and concerns around the low residual value of EVs. While market share has risen from previous years, the increase is not as large as we would expect given the significant amount of time that has passed.”