Tesla is the best selling brand in Europe, but Volkswagen Group is the #1 OEM
Some 202,000 plugin vehicles were registered in February in Europe — which is +10% year over year (YoY). Unfortunately, it was the same growth rate in the overall market, +10%, so there were no real gains when it comes to EV market share.
Last month’s plugin vehicle share of the overall European auto market was 20% (13% full electrics/BEVs). That result kept the 2024 plugin vehicle share at 20% (13% for BEVs alone).
BEVs (+10%) and PHEVs (+9%) grew at similar rates, as the BEV market is currently in a sort of no man’s land. It is still feeling the pain of the end of incentives in a number of countries, especially in Germany. On the other hand, new mass-market EVs (the Renault 5, Citroen e-C3, etc.) are still not on the road. Expect this to ease in Q2, but significant growth should only come in the second half of the year.
Looking at the other powertrains on the market, plugless hybrids are the fastest growing technology (+24% YoY), and they represented 29% of the total market in February. Added to the 20% of plugin vehicles, one can say that half of the European car market is already electrified, in some way. But for some to grow, others must come down, and diesel (-5% YoY) is the starkest example. Diesel vehicles had only 12% of the European passenger car market in February, a far cry from the 50% share it had in 2015 or the 55% average it experienced before that. At this rate, in this category, diesel will be dead by 2027, well before the 2035 ICE ban….
The highlight of the month was the Peugeot e-208 jumping into 3rd. But let’s look closer at February’s plugin top 5: