The total share of cars with alternative powertrains reached 8.5% of the European market, with electrically chargeable vehicles (ECV) accounting for 2.5% of total sales in the region in the first three months of this year.
Petrol and diesel models
Excluding Germany, sales of petrol cars grew in the five key EU car markets, with the most notable jump recorded in Italy, where the figure rose by 21.6%. As a result, the presence of petrol cars in the market expanded from 55.5% to 59.3% in the first quarter of 2019.
At the same time, sales of diesel cars declined in almost all EU countries, with only Germany, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania being exceptions. The diesel market share lost about six percentage points compared to the same period last year and now stands at 32.2%.
Alternative fuel vehicles (APV)
In the first quarter of 2019, interest in cars with alternative engines in the European Union rose by 25.9%. The main growth driver was the segment of plug-in electric vehicles, which increased by 40.0% to 99,174 units. Within this category, sales of pure electric models (BEV) showed a significant rise (+84.4%), while registrations of plug-in hybrids remained almost at the same level. Hybrid vehicles (HEV) also demonstrated confident dynamics (+33.3%) — 184,808 such cars were sold in the first three months. At the same time, registrations of cars running on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas (NGV) decreased by 7.2% in the first quarter, mainly due to a significant drop in demand for NGV-powered vehicles.
In all major EU markets, sales of alternative fuel cars grew noticeably. The largest relative increase in demand for APV was recorded in Germany (+62.9%) — largely due to a doubling of sales in the hybrid segment — as well as in Spain (+48.9%).
