AFP, published on Thursday, May 05, 2022 at 09:16
Hybrid and electric cars continued to conquer European markets in the first quarter, the European Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said on Thursday.
The sharp drop in the European market in the first quarter (-12.3% over one year), linked in particular to shortages of semiconductors, mainly affected sales of diesel cars, which fell by 33.2% to 378,000 units.
On the contrary, the situation continues to benefit mild hybrids (petrol and diesel), which now represent a quarter of the market, compared to 20% at the start of 2021 (563,000 vehicles, +5.3% over one year).
100% electric cars also continue to grow and represent 10% of the market, with 224,000 units sold in the first quarter (+53.4% over one year).
After having conquered the main markets such as Germany or France, sales of electric cars are now exploding in Spain, Romania and Poland. Only Italy saw its sales of electric vehicles decline, pending new purchase bonuses.
Plug-in hybrids, on the contrary, remained on a downward trend that began at the end of 2021 (-5.3% over one year, 8.9% of the market), particularly in France and Germany.
Gasoline cars continue to dominate European sales with 808,000 units and 36% market share, but they are taking the market fall hard (-22.6% year on year), and are overtaken by combined sales of hybrids , electric and plug-in hybrids.
The European market has just experienced the three worst months in its history (still excluding 2020), with 2.2 million vehicles sold. Sales are being held back by a series of logistical problems, including a shortage of semiconductors.
Since the end of February, the shutdown of factories of Ukrainian suppliers has added to the shortages of electronic components.
Faced with these shortages, manufacturers have given priority to equipping their most profitable models, including electrified models. But these new engines were also overtaken in the 4th quarter by the shortage of electronic chips, preventing them from continuing the unprecedented growth recorded in 2020.
