A quarter of new cars are from Volkswagen Group
Anyone who follows car news closely may get the impression that only EVs are being sold due to the enormous attention that car manufacturers in Europe are paying to electric cars. Nothing could be further from the truth. For example, around 85 percent of all new passenger cars registered in the European Union in 2023 would still have a combustion engine. This and more is evident from the figures for 2023 that trade organization ACEA has released.
Last year, 10,547,716 new passenger cars were registered in the European Union, a staggering number of course. This was 13.9 percent more than the 9,263,509 new cars registered in the EU in 2022. In every EU country – with the exception of Hungary – more new cars were registered last year than in 2022.
By 2023, more than 1.5 million new fully electric cars will be registered in the European Union. That was a solid 37 percent more than in 2022. The market share of EVs increased by 2.5 percentage points last year compared to 2022 to 14.6 percent. This also means that 85.4 percent of all new passenger cars registered in the EU in 2023 were not EVs. In the Netherlands, about 69 percent of all new cars will have a combustion engine by 2023.
Passenger cars with a mild or non-mild hybrid petrol engine accounted for a market share of 35.3 percent. That share shrank by 1.2 percentage points compared to 2022. Cars with full-fledged hybrid powertrains achieved a market share of 25.8 percent. That share was 3.2 percentage points larger than in 2022. The share of diesel cars in the European registration pie was 2.8 percentage points smaller in 2023 than in 2022. There are also fewer diesel cars than EVs registered in 2023. In Germany, however, more than 10 percent more diesels registered than in 2022. Interestingly, the share of plug-ins also decreased in 2023. 7.7 percent of all new passenger cars registered in 2023 were plug-in hybrids. That share was still 1.7 percentage points larger in 2022.
| Powertrain type | Number (2023) | Market share 2023 | Market share 2022 | Difference in percentage points |
| Petrol | 3,724,646 | 35.3% | 36.5% | -1.2 |
| Hybrid | 2,716,953 | 25.8% | 22.6% | +3.2 |
| Electric | 1,538,621 | 14.6% | 12.1% | +2.5 |
| Diesel | 1,433,368 | 13.6% | 16.4% | -2.8 |
| Plug-in hybrid | 813,480 | 7.7% | 9.4% | -1.7 |
| Other (LPG, CNG, hydrogen) | 320,638 | 3% | 3% | 0 |
| Total | 10,547,716 |
Volkswagen Group the largest
In 2023, the Volkswagen Group was the car manufacturer with the most new cars registered in the EU. In total, this concerns more than 2.75 million cars, 18 percent more than in 2022. One in four new passenger cars registered in the EU in 2023 was a model from one of the Volkswagen brands. About 1.15 million units were Volkswagen. Skoda and Audi both achieved almost 600,000 registrations. Seat follows with just under 210,000 registered cars. Cupra and Porsche successively reached 166,000 and almost 70,000 units.
Stellantis was the largest car manufacturer after the Volkswagen Group in 2023. Last year, 1.88 million models of the group were registered, 3 percent more than in 2022. Peugeot was the leader with almost 570,000 registrations within Stellantis, followed by Fiat with almost 360,000 registrations. Opel achieved more than 350,000 registered cars, Citroën follows closely behind the brand with 335,000 registrations. With more than 120,000 registrations, Jeep registered about three times as many cars as Alfa Romeo (47,000). DS and Lancia each register around 45,000 cars.
The Renault Group is in third place in the ranking of companies and registered 1,152,230 cars. Of these, almost 630,000 were Renaults (+16 percent) and almost 520,000 units (+18 percent) were Dacias. Alpine naturally plays a role in the margins with just under 3,600 cars. The Hyundai Group follows in fourth place with more than 885,000 registered cars (+4.2 percent). Kia and Hyundai are close together with 453,393 (+5.5 percent) and 432,233 (+3 percent) registrations successively.
Tesla managed to register 279,042 cars in the EU, a large 89 percent more than in 2022. Tesla is therefore below Ford, but above Volvo in the rankings.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl