Cars: Electric vehicles topped 20% of sales in August

This is the first time. Electric vehicle market share exceeded 20% for the first time in August, according to data from the industry association (ACEA), which showed the overall market experienced its thirteenth consecutive month of growth.

Last month, 787,626 units were sold in the European Union, up 21% on last year. Growth is evident in the three largest markets: +37.3% in Germany, +24.3% in France and +11.9% in Italy. “The European market is recovering from last year’s component shortages,” ACEA explains in a press release.

With sales up 118.1% year-on-year to 165,165 units, accounting for 21% of total new car registrations, electric models overtook diesel models for the second time since June last year.

In terms of engines, gasoline leads the way with almost 33% of the market, down from 39% in August 2021. Electric vehicles rank second (24%), ahead of electric vehicles, whose share has nearly doubled over the year.

Volkswagen remains market leader

Diesel cars now account for just 12.5% ​​of the European market (16% in August 2021), with plug-in hybrid models accounting for around 7% of sales, down from 8.5% a year earlier.

In the first eight months of the year, growth was 17.9%, with 7.1 million vehicles sold, remaining below the 9 million in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Among brands and manufacturers, the Volkswagen group remains the market leader with 27% of sales (209,500 units) in August, ahead of the Stellantis group (17%). Renault takes third place with 9.5%.

Tesla showed the strongest growth in August: +247% to 27,300 vehicles. Thus, the Californian manufacturer surpasses even the brands Fiat, Citroën, Seat, Cupra and Ford in particular.