Sales of vehicles in Europe slightly increased by 1.9% to over 1.11 million units last month, according to data released on Wednesday by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).
From those, 193,493 were fully electric. The figures marked a 27.2% rise in comparison to the same period a year ago. Battery electric vehicles (BEV) represented 17.4% of the market in the continent.
When considering only the European Union, in a total of 926,582 vehicles, over 142,000 were BEVs — a 25% increase year over year to a 15.4% market share.
New energy vehicles (NEV), which include both fully electric and hybrid models, accounted for more than half of all car sales in Europe in May, making up 61.2% of the total market.
Registrations for hybrid vehicles reached 487,297 units — representing 43.8% of the market in Europe.
Hybrid models (HEVs) remained the most popular choice among European consumers last month, with 379,150 units sold. Over 108,000 units were plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs).
Both types of hybrid powertrains saw an increase in sales compared to the same period last year.
Between January 1 to May 31, fully electric vehicles represented 951,653 of the units sold in a total of 5.57 million cars — a 17.1% market share.
The figures showed a 27.8% year-over-year increase in battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales, indicating that BEV sales are steadily rising and on track to soon make up one-fifth of all vehicle sales.
EV Adoption
According to data from the ACEA, EV registrations nearly tripled year over year in Cyprus (190%), and more than doubled in Poland (118%), Bulgaria (107%) and Spain (104%). In Slovakia, sales soared 98.9% from May 2024.
In Europe’s largest auto market, Germany, BEV sales rose 43.2% — with electric vehicles representing 18% of the German market last month.
On the other hand, registrations fell year over year in Croatia (-79.2%), Estonia (-54.6%), Romania (-42.7%) and France (-18.7%).
Over the first five months of the year, EV sales in France declined 7.1% when compared to January-May 2024.
In May, 19,414 BEVs were sold among a total of 123,918, representing 15.7% of vehicle sales.
Sales by Brands
Regarding pure EV brands, Tesla sold 13,863 vehicles in Europe last month, down from the 19,227 units registered in May 2024.
The U.S. brand’s market share in European markets declined 0.6% year over year, due to increased competition, transition to the new Model Y and weaker demand partially related with CEO Elon Musk’s involvement in politics.
The monthly data by ACEA does not provide information on Chinese NEV brands’ sales in Europe.
According to data compiled by EV, China giant BYD is estimated to have sold over 9,381 vehicles in its major markets in the continent.
Volkswagen Group remained the top choice among European drivers, representing 27.8% of total vehicle sales last month — up 0.2% from April and 0.4% from the same period last year.
The group, which includes not only Volkswagen, but also Skoda, Audi, Cupra, Seat and Porsche, sold nearly 310,000 vehicles in May.
Stellantis, which owns Peugeot, Opel and Citroen, had a market share of 15.2% — showing a slight drop from April (-0.2%) and year over year (-0.7%). Renault Group represented 10.0% of the market last month — 0.3% up from May 2024, but 0.3% down from April.
South-Korean based Hyundai Group maintained a 7.9% market share in May — the same as April. However, its share in the European markets fell from the same period last year, when it represented 8.4%.
