The European new car market demonstrated a steady recovery in May, reporting a growth of 3.6% compared to the same month last year. According to official data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), the total number of registrations in the European Union, EFTA countries and the United Kingdom reached 1,152,523 units.
The main drivers of growth on the continent turned out to be Italy with an impressive jump of 7.6% and France with +3.7%. At the other extreme is Germany, which achieved a symbolic increase of only 0.1%, while Spain remained the only major market in the red zone with a decline of 0.8%.
The big news comes from the drive technology camp, where a serious structural change is being observed. Fully electric vehicles (BEVs) now hold a solid 20% share of the total market in the first five months of the year with over 950,000 registrations. This boom is supported by the exceptionally strong performance of battery models in Italy (+75.7%), France (+55.4%) and Germany (+40.9%).
Despite the electric offensive, hybrids (HEVs) maintain their leading position as the most preferred choice among European buyers, holding a 37.8% market share with nearly 1.8 million vehicles delivered since the beginning of the year. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) also recorded growth to 9.7% of the total volume, with the main contribution coming from the Italian market with a jump of 84.9%.
This wave of electrification is happening directly at the expense of conventional internal combustion engines. Sales of gasoline cars have collapsed by 18.2%, which reduces their market share to 22.4%. Diesel continues its free fall with a decrease of 16.6% and now occupies only 7.6% of the market. Thus, the total share of gasoline and diesel modifications has fallen to 30.1%, while a year earlier they occupied 38% of European registrations.
Among manufacturers, Volkswagen Group maintains its leading position on the Old Continent, followed by the mega-concern Stellantis and Renault Group. The big surprise, however, comes from the rapidly developing brands such as BYD, Chery, Tesla and Leapmotor, which are recording serious market growth, while traditional players such as Ford and Nissan are recording serious declines in their sales on European soil.
Against this background, the Bulgarian market for new passenger cars shows even more serious dynamics, outpacing the average European growth rate. According to ACEA data, 4,293 new vehicles were registered in our country in May, which represents a solid growth of 11.5% compared to the same month last year.
With this, the total volume for the first five months of the year in our country reaches exactly 20,500 units (+5.3%). The structural change in the preferences of domestic buyers is also interesting. Although gasoline modifications remain the market leader in absolute terms, conventional hybrids (HEV) recorded an impressive three-digit jump of 143.3% on a monthly basis (292 units), and fully electric models (BEV) recorded a growth of 86.6% with 362 registrations, thus capturing a record market share of 8.4% for the country for the month.
