European car sales are up, electric is gaining ground

In total, car manufacturers sold 851,689 passenger cars in the European Union in January. Half of all new cars run purely on petrol or diesel power, a slightly smaller market share than in January last year. Hybrid cars accounted for almost three in ten cars. Electric cars gained a little market share. Nearly 11 percent of new passenger cars sold in January were fully electric, and last January they accounted for 9.5 percent of car sales. The percentage growth in numbers was a lot greater; 92,741 fully electric cars were sold, 28.9 percent more than last year in January. Hybrid cars sold 23.5 percent more.

The Netherlands was one of the leaders in purchasing new electric cars. According to ACEA, sales of fully electric cars increased here by more than 72 percent. Across the EU as a whole, this was an increase of just under 29 percent. The market for fully electric cars slumped somewhat in December. Car manufacturers are also more cautious with their investments in electric cars. For example, Renault recently withdrew the IPO of its electric driving division, Ampère, and said it also wanted to reduce the increase in costs for these activities.