The current global situation has left a deep mark on the automotive industry (and numerous other sectors), with new car sales dropping by 29 percent in the first nine months of the year, to 8.54 million units, in Europe.
The biggest hit was recorded by diesels, which only accounted for 24.8 percent of the market share in September. By comparison, a decade ago, models equipped with oil-burning units comprised 50 percent of the total registrations.
According to JatoDynamics’ analysis, the overall registrations of mild-hybrids, hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery-electric rides surpassed those of diesel cars for the first time ever.
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“The shift from ICEs (internal combustion engines) to EVs (electric vehicles) is finally taking place”, said Jato’s Global Analyst, Felipe Munoz. “Although this is largely down to government policies and incentives, consumers are also now ready to adopt these new technologies.”
The Volkswagen Golf was Europe’s best-seller last month, with 28,731 units, followed by the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa and Renault Clio, with 26,269 and 23,986 respectively.
In the mild-hybrid and hybrid segments, the Toyota Corolla led the pack, with the podium completed by the Ford Puma and Toyota C-HR in this order, with 15,093, 12,251 and 11,991 examples registered.
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Volvo XC40 and Audi Q5 were the most popular plug-in hybrids, accounting for 4,782, 4,036 and 2,998 units respectively.
Finally, the electric king was the Tesla Model 3, with a total of 15,702 cars. The Renault Zoe and Volkswagen ID.3 recorded 11,023 and 7,897 registrations.
