Sales of new cars in the EU continue to pick up

The sales figures of new passenger cars in all EU countries are known for the month of July. ACEA calculates that a total of 851,156 new passenger cars were registered, 15.6 percent more than last year in that month. It is less than in June of this year, when more than a million copies found their first owner. It also lags behind sales in 2019, the year that is still seen as an important indicator because corona and later the chip shortage did not throw a spanner in the works at that time. Compared to July of that year, sales are still 22 percent behind.

Of the major car markets, Spain grew the fastest, at 21.9 percent. It also went fast in Italy, with 20.9 percent. France and Germany recorded slightly more modest growth rates; 15.8 percent and 13.6 percent respectively. In the Netherlands, sales increased faster than in all those countries; here we had to deal with no less than 30.6 percent growth, as it turned out at the beginning of this month.

Last month there was a striking shift in the powertrain of newly sold passenger cars. Then fully electric cars overtook cars with only a diesel engine for the first time. In July, however, the proportion of fully electric cars dropped slightly and the share of diesel cars rose slightly, so that the roles were reversed again. Petrol-only cars are still by far the most popular, followed by hybrid cars and diesel cars. At least 83.4 percent of newly sold passenger cars still have a fuel engine on board.