March data showed that passenger-car sales in Europe fell 2.8%. On Thursday, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) revealed that registrations of new vehicles declined 5.2% to 1.38 million units in March, with BEV sales dropping 11.3%. This data reflects the stories told by Europe’s star automakers, namely Volkswagen (OTC: VWAGY) and Stellantis NV (NYSE: STLA) who are struggling with lower demand, particularly on the EV front.
Europe’s March figures in more detail.
As for overall sales, Germany recorded a 6.2% drop, followed by Spain’s 4.7% fall, Italy that recorded a 3.7%decrease, and France whose sales contracted 1.5%. Battery-electric car registrations declined by to 134,397 units, with their market share contracting from 13.9% (March 2023) to 13%. Interestingly, three largest BEV markets which are Belgium, France and Germany, reported different trends. While Belgium and France posted double-digit increases, namely 23.8% and 10.9%, respectively, Germany suffered quite a decline that amounted to28.9%. However, the first first quarter of 2024 ended with a 3.8% YoY rise as a total of 332,999 new battery-poweredEVs were registered during the first three months of ...