Electrified cars market share grows in Europe as total sales fall

BERLIN, July 20 (Reuters) – The share of battery-electric cars among new registrations in Europe grew to 9.9% in April to June from 7.5% a year prior, new data showed on Wednesday, as fossil-fuel powered cars lost market share and total sales dropped.

Petrol and diesel cars retained a majority of new registrations with a 55.8% share, the data from Europe’s automobile association ACEA showed, but total sales fell by more than a fifth for both car types.

By contrast, battery-electric vehicle sales grew 11.1%.

Two-fifths of new cars sold were electrified, with hybrid cars – which outsold diesel cars for the first time in 2021 – still the most popular with a 22.6% market share.

ACEA data released earlier this week showed Europe registered the fewest new passenger cars in the month of June since 1996 at just over 1.06 million vehicles, as problems from logistics bottlenecks to an ongoing chip shortage curbed production. 

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Richard Chang)