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Nearly one in four new cars sold in the European Union in January were either fully electric or plug-in hybrids, according to a tally by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).
The context: The EU’s new vehicle emissions standards, which came into effect on January 1, require manufacturers to reduce their fleet-wide average emissions from new cars and vans by 15%, relative to 2021 levels.
Because carmakers that exceed their specific pollution targets have to pay fines, they’ve focused on bringing out and promoting a range of cleaner models from 2025.
The latest: Battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for 22.3% of the market in January, up from 18.7% a year before.
Including traditional hybrids, cars with batteries comprised 57.3% of all sales last month, while models powered entirely by fossil fuels (petrol and diesel cars) saw their share of the mix slide to 39.4%, from 48.7% a year before.
Sales of fully-electric models were up 34%, with their share of the market rising to 15%, from 10.9% in January 2024. Hybrid-electric vehicles were at 34.9% of the total and plug-in hybrids 7.4%.
The chart below demonstrates the EU’s accelerated shift from traditional drivetrains.
Yes, but: As Europe’s automobile industry struggles to compete with Chinese manufacturers and US president Donald Trump threatens to impose tariffs on car imports, there’s growing pushback against the EU’s emission rules, at least as they are in their current form.
France wants the block to give automakers more flexibility to comply with emissions targets this year, Bloomberg reported. The news agency reported separately that a Renault executive is “100% confident” the EU will water down the rules to safeguard local manufacturers.
Meanwhile, Friedrich Merz, who’s likely to become Germany’s next chancellor, is reportedly in favour of ditching the EU’s ban on combustion-engine vehicle sales that’s due to take effect from 2035.
