New car sales in the European Union rose by just 0.2% in July, slowed by declines in France and Germany, while battery-electric vehicles continued to lose market share.
However, one exception was registrations of Dacia-branded cars which increased by 10.1% year-on-year, to 44,809 units. Renault, which owns Dacia, registrations fell by 11%, to 43,738 units, Europe’s auto industry body said in data published on Thursday.
In July 2024, the popular Dacia also overtook brands such as Peugeot (43,972 units registered) or Mercedes (44,354).
Improvements in the Belgian, Dutch and French electric-vehicle (EV) markets failed to offset a drop of almost 37% in Germany’s battery-electric sales, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said.
Europe’s major carmakers in – Volkswagen, Stellantis and Renault – recorded a decline in sales in July, by 2.2%, 5.2% and 1.7%, respectively, as competition from Chinese carmakers hit their sales.
Car sales have shown mixed trends across the EU, partly due to diverging policies on green incentives. Regulators have introduced hefty tariffs to try to keep out cheap Chinese EVs.
Electrified vehicles whether they are fully electric models, plug-in hybrids or full hybrids sold in the EU accounted for 50.9% of all new passenger car registrations in July, up from 47% a year earlier.
But sales of battery electric and plug-in cars fell by 10.8% and 14.1%, as those of hybrid-electric cars jumped 25.7%.
The European Commission has broadly maintained plans for tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles of up to 36.3%.
Stellantis, which saw the biggest drop in sales among EU carmakers, had reported a bigger than expected fall in revenue and operating profit for the first six months of 2024 in part due to internal operational issues.
Sales of hybrid electric cars, seen as a compromise between all-combustion and all-electric, and as a more affordable and convenient alternative to EVs which require charging infrastructure, have increased in the EU in recent months.
