Who sold the most cars in Europe in 2024
Spain and the UK rescue the market. Electrics are confirmed as the third powertrain. Down Ford and Stellantis, up Toyota and Volvo
The European car market (EU+EFTA+UK) closes 2024 with a total of 12,963,614 new cars registered in the year, up slightly by 0.9% from 12,847,929 units in 2023.
The 2024 car year avoids the red ink thanks in part to the December result. In the last month of the year, European registrations reached 1,091,131 vehicles, up 4.1% compared to December 2023.
Among the main continental markets, the only one to show good growth is Spain at +7.1% for the year, followed by the United Kingdom at +2.6%. France, on the other hand, is in sharp decline (-3.2%), accompanied by Germany (-1%) and Italy (-0.5%). The sixth European market becomes Poland with a solid +16.1%.
Market shares by powertrain
In 2024 as a whole, electric cars, while maintaining third place among the powertrains with a market share of 15.3%, fell by 1.3%. Particularly heavy is the drop in electric car registrations in Germany (-27.4%) and France and Italy are also not doing well with EVs, at -2.6% and -1.0% respectively. In contrast, battery cars are growing in Spain (+11.2%) and the UK (+21.4%).
Plug-in hybrid cars in turn fell 3.9% year-on-year in the EU markets+EFTA+UK, with a market share of 7.3%. The biggest growth for PHEVs was in the UK (+18.3%) and Germany (+9.2%), while in Italy they fell by 24.4%.
The petrol car is still the best-selling powertrain with almost 33% market share in Europe, but in the year just ended it fell by 6.8%.
Growing strongly and now very close to the registration of petrol cars is that of hybrid cars (full and mild), which rose by 19.6% to reach a market share of 31.3%.
The diesel car market continues its contraction, with an annual continental -11.8% bringing it to a share of 10.4%, while the other fuels (LPG, methane, bioethanol and hydrogen) are up slightly with +1.4% and a share of 2.5%.
Who went up and who went down
Among the large car groups, the only one to show strong growth is Toyota at +13.1% in 2024 and with a market share rising by almost one percentage point. Also increasing are the European registrations of Renault (+3.2%) and Volkswagen Group (+2.5%), while falling significantly are Ford (-17.0%), Tesla (-10.8%) and Stellantis (-7.3%).
Among the other groups, the excellent performance of Volvo (+28.4%), Suzuki (+8.1%) and Mitsubishi, which, despite small sales numbers, returned to Europe with a +42.2%.
| Group | Registrations | Change % 2024/2023 | Share 2024 | Share 2023 |
| Volkswagen | 3,407,242 | +2.5% | 26.3% | 25.9% |
| Stellantis | 1,969,594 | -7.3% | 15.2% | 16.5% |
| Renault | 1,282,453 | +3.2% | 9.9% | 9.7% |
| Hyundai | 1,063,517 | -3.9% | 8.2% | 8.6% |
| Toyota | 1,006,073 | +13.1% | 7.8% | 6.9% |
| BMW | 923,202 | +1.0% | 7.1% | 7.1% |
| Mercedes-Benz | 696,907 | -0.4% | 5.4% | 5.4% |
| Ford | 426,307 | -17.0% | 3.3% | 4.0% |
| Volvo | 369,689 | +28.4% | 2.9% | 2.2% |
| Tesla | 327,034 | -10.8% | 2.5% | 2.9% |
| Nissan | 307,276 | +4.5% | 2.4% | 2.3% |
| SAIC Motor | 244,595 | +5.1% | 1.9% | 1.8% |
| Suzuki | 203,132 | +8.1% | 1.6% | 1.5% |
| Mazda | 172,347 | -5.6% | 1.3% | 1.4% |
| Jaguar Land Rover | 150,657 | +3.6% | 1.2% | 1.1% |
| Honda | 74,682 | +23.2% | 0.6% | 0.5% |
| Mitsubishi | 60,873 | +42.2% | 0.5% | 0.3% |
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