Brussels, 4 September 2019 – In the second quarter of 2019, the EU new-car market shifted further towards petrol vehicles. Petrol now represents nearly 60% of all new passenger car registrations, while demand for diesel continued to fall during the second quarter.

Electrically-chargeable vehicles (ECV) accounted for 2.4% of total new car sales across the region, while all alternatively-powered vehicles (APV) combined made up 9.2% of the EU market.

Petrol and diesel cars

Demand for new petrol cars continued to increase in the five major EU markets, except for Germany. The highest percentage gain (+27.4%) was posted by Italy. The Central European countries also saw a surge in demand for petrol vehicles, with registrations increasing by 7.2%. Petrol expanded its market share from 56.7% to 59.5% in the second quarter of 2019.

By contrast, the number of diesel cars registered across the EU decreased by 16.4% to 1.3 million units, with diesel’s market share falling from 36.3% in the second quarter of 2018 to 31.3% this year. In Germany, however, demand for diesel recovered slightly – up 3.5% in the second quarter.

Alternatively-powered vehicles (APV)

During the second quarter, registrations of alternatively-powered cars in the European Union showed strong growth (+28.5%). Some 98,553 electrically-chargeable vehicles (ECV) were registered, up 35.6% compared to last year. Sales of battery electric vehicles almost doubled (+97.7%), while demand for plug-in hybrids declined in the second quarter of 2019 (-13.6%).

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) posted strong results (+38.2%), with 210,348 units sold from April to June this year. However, registrations of LPG and natural gas cars remained flat in the second quarter, mainly due to a sharp drop in demand for natural gas vehicles (NGV).

Each of the five largest EU car markets saw registrations of alternatively-powered vehicles increase significantly. Germany (+60.7%) recorded the highest percentage gains, boosted by strong demand for hybrid electric vehicles, followed by Spain (+35.8%) and France (+20.0%).

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