Electric cars are expanding their market share in the EU – Chinese manufacturers are increasing

Electric cars have significantly increased their share of new registrations in the European Union within a year. After eight months, 21.7 percent of newly registered cars were pure electric cars (BEV - battery electric vehicles), almost six percentage points more than a year earlier. Overall, new car registrations rose by 5.3 percent to 7.55 million cars, as the European manufacturers' association Acea announced in Brussels. Plug-in hybrids represented a tenth of the market.

In July, new car registrations rose by 3 percent compared to the same month last year and by 4.5 percent in August. However, according to EY expert Constantin M. Gall, the increase should not only be seen as a sign of a recovery in the car market. “The upward trend in the European new car market is primarily due to the subsidization of e-mobility,” said Gall. If these expire, sales of electric cars will also collapse.

Chinese car manufacturers are increasing

Chinese providers were able to increase significantly from January to the end of August. Car manufacturers such as the Volkswagen Group have recently been warning more and more clearly about the increasing competition from the Far East on the domestic market. The Geely Group, to which the Acea Association includes, among others, the brands Volvo, Polestar and the Smart joint venture with Mercedes-Benz, which are well-known in the West, only remained stable at 2.7 percent in the EU with its market share compared to the same period last year.

BYD was able to more than double its share of new cars from 0.9 to 2.4 percent market share. SAIC Motor (especially MG Motor) increased from 1.9 to 2.2 percent, Chery Automobile (brands Omoda, Jaecoo) from 0.5 to 1.5 percent. Together with Leapmotor (0.8 percent), these Chinese providers achieved a combined market share of 9.6 percent. A year earlier, according to Acea, it was only 6.2 percent.

German manufacturers are having a hard time

The Volkswagen Group sold around 3 percent fewer cars in July and August than a year earlier. The figures include the sports car subsidiary Porsche, which suffered a setback of almost 5 percent and a good 8 percent in the EU in the two months. At BMW there was a slight increase of less than one percent. Mercedes-Benz was only able to increase slightly in July, but then increased new registrations by more than 7 percent in August.

Ey expert Gall also remains cautious about the overall market. The economic and political situation remains difficult and no improvement in the situation is foreseeable. Manufacturers should therefore prepare for further difficult years and not set their sales targets too high.