EV sales across Europe fell 1.2% last year to 1,985,996 units in an overall market up 0.9%. The drop in registrations was also reflected in the market share of BEVs in Europe, which decreased slightly from 15.7% in 2023 to 15.4% last year.
Jato said a lack of clarity about incentives for BEVs, the high average retail price of new models and low residual values – as well as concerns about charging infrastructure across the continent – are among the reasons behind the decline.
It said despite the drop recorded last year, the situation is expected to improve over 2025 as the average price of a BEV continues to fall in Europe, largely due to the introduction of less expensive models from mainstream automakers.
Europe’s car market has shrunk by almost 2.9 million units since the arrival of the pandemic in 2020.
“Overall, when you consider the range of challenges facing Europe’s automotive industry, the results for 2024 are not overly negative,” said Felipe Munoz, global analyst at JATO Dynamics.
“However, you would expect any other industry to have shown significant signs of recovery by now, and there is very little evidence that the automotive industry will return to the pre-pandemic reality.
“The higher cost of vehicles, the rise of working from home, inflationary pressure on wages and the emergence of new transportation solutions are among the reasons why Europeans have stopped buying brand new cars,” he added.
2024 was not a positive year for sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in Europe, with the slowdown in growth that the industry began to see signs of in 2022 resulting in a drop in sales last year.
Sales grew +107% year on year between 2019 and 2020, +63% between 2020 and 2021, +29% between 2021 and 2022, and +28% between 2022 and 2023.
