9:01 am, April 1, 2023
New car registrations grew in Europe in February, buoyed by strong sales of electric vehicles.
Total registrations exceeded 900,000 units – up by 12 per cent on February 2022 – new figures from Jato Dynamics reveal.
When January and February are combined, new car registrations came to 1.81m units – 11 per cent higher than the same months last year.
Italy, Spain, the UK and Belgium saw strong, double-digit growth rates in February. The only countries that experienced a decline in growth were Sweden, Norway, Finland and Cyprus.
Strong demand for battery electric vehicles catalysed February’s registrations figures.
The month saw 118,329 pure-electric cars leaving dealers’ forecourts – up 33 per cent on February 2022.
Norway, once the leader for EVs, was fifth behind Germany, France, the UK and the Netherlands.
In fact, the Tesla Model Y was the best-selling car in Europe in February with 18,446 units registered.
It was followed by the Dacia Sandero (18,431), Peugeot 208 (16,180), Volkswagen T-Roc (15,760) and the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa (15,120).
Chinese brands lost traction in February, though.
Registrations of European built cars in European fell marginally by 0.2 per cent to 2.7 per cent in February, despite the arrival of more Chinese-built models.
Felipe Munoz, global analyst at Jato Dynamics, said: ‘While big structural problems persist, results from 2023 so far indicate that consumers are responding positively to more competitive offers in the market.
‘However, rising interest rates – due to hit the market in coming months – may make consumer access to loans more difficult, potentially impacting purchasing decisions.’
Munoz added: ‘The entrance of Chinese vehicles into Europe is not taking place as quickly as many expected.
‘There is clearly more work to be done on the models, production and marketing plans before these brands can successfully expand into the region.’
