A 28% rise in electric car sales boosted Europe’s new car market to its strongest year since the Covid pandemic, according to industry analyst Jato Dynamics.
A total of 12,792,151 cars were sold across Europe (including the UK) in 2023, up 22% on 2022 and a 7% increase over 2020.
Jato analyst Felipe Munoz hailed the increase as a normalisation of the market, with supply chain disruption from the pandemic largely resolved.
“Despite this, it's unlikely we will see volumes surpass the 15 million units recorded in 2019,” added Munoz, who cited changing attitudes to car ownership and the increased cost of buying a new car.
Electric car sales increased to 2,011,209 in 2023. Tesla played a starring role in this growth: its Model Y crossover was Europe’s best-selling car overall, with 251,604 registrations, and the next most-popular EV was its Model 3, with 100,888.
This propelled Tesla to 16th place for all brands, ahead of big names such as Nissan and Volvo – if still far behind titans such as Volkswagen, Toyota and Audi.
“Tesla has the right product in the right place at the right time,” said Munoz.
However, the car industry still faces a “major hurdle” as sales of EVs to the fleet market rose disproportionately compared with those to private buyers, at 51% and 9%.
Munoz attributed this to a “lack of interest” from the private market, adding: “Sales to private individuals tend to be the most profitable for car makers, and so it’s imperative that they do more to attract this type of customer.”
In all, EVs recorded a 16% market share in Europe last year, up from 14% in 2022. Petrol cars rose from 56% to 58%, while diesel cars fell from 18% to 16% and plug-in hybrids slipped from 9% to 8%.
Superminis remain strong sellers
As electric saloons and SUVs were responsible for much of the European market’s growth in 2023, affordable petrol-engined cars continued to form its backbone.
The Dacia Sandero was the second-best-selling car, with 234,715 registrations, an increase of 18%. The Renault Clio (201,604 sales), Peugeot 208 (193,679) and Vauxhall Corsa (188,154) took fourth, fifth and sixth.
Meanwhile, despite both being well over a decade old, the combustion-engined Fiat 500 and Fiat Panda recorded 108,943 and 124,796 sales, landing them in the top 30 models overall.
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