EV Sales Decline Across Europe For First Time Since April 2020

New car registrations have plummeted in Europe throughout June and even electric vehicles have seen a fall in sales.

In June 2022, a total of 1,054,807 new car registrations were made across Europe, representing a 17 percent decline from the 1,268,508 units that were registered in June 2021. This marks the worst June for sales since 1993.

Electric vehicles were also impacted. JATO reports that 215,000 battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles were registered in June 2022, an 8 percent decline from the 233,000 units that were registered a year ago. This represents the largest fall in EV registrations since April 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. EVs accounted for 62 percent of these registrations while the remaining 38 percent were for plug-in hybrids.

JATO notes that declining demand for electric vehicles impacted Renault, Volkswagen, Tesla, Audi, Skoda, and Ford the most. Interestingly, Mercedes, BMW, Peugeot, Kia, Fiat, and Cupra recorded growth in the sales of their EVs.

Looking at the broader industry as a whole, the Peugeot 208 was Europe’s best-selling car in June, selling 24,488 units, a 38 percent increase from June 20-21. It was followed by the Dacia Sandero with 24,299 sales, the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa (19,679), Fiat/Abarth 500 (19,500), Dacia Duster (19,039), Volkswagen T-Roc (18,679), Volkswagen Golf (17,575), Renault Captur (17,556), Tesla Model Y (16,687), and the Toyota Yaris with 15,216 sales.

Read Also: New Car Sales Tumble By Over 20% In EU But Some Automakers Came Out On Top

Unsurprisingly, the Model Y is leading EV sales, more than doubling the sales of the Fiat 500e in second place with 7,269 units being registered. That placed it ahead of the Tesla Model 3 (6,176), Peugeot e-208 (5,626), and Skoda Enyaq with 5,484 sales.

Leading the charge in PHEV sales was the Ford Kuga with 3,952 units sold, positioning it ahead of the Kia Sportage (2,881), Cupra Formentor (2,833), Hyundai Tucson (2,626), the BMW 3-Series (2,623).

While some brands struggled, others thrived in June. For example, the Volkswagen Group saw a 26 percent decline in sales while Renault increased its market share from 10 percent in June 2021 to 12.1 percent last month. Chinese automakers also thrived, posting a collective 93 percent increase in sales throughout June up to 13,800 vehicles.