Cars, EU market stays on 2024 volumes. Tesla halves registrations in April

The car market in Europe is not regaining momentum, with registrations stalling in April (-0.3%) and volumes in line with last year in the first four months of the year, with 0.4% fewer registrations than in 2024. The Western European car market (EU+Efta+UK) ended the first four months of the year with 4.459.087 cars on the books, volumes below the pre-Covid level by almost 20%.

In the five largest Western European markets, however, the sharpest contraction compared to pre-crisis levels was recorded by France, which recorded a 26% drop on 2019, followed by Germany (-23.8%), the United Kingdom (-18.7%), Italy (-18.2%) and Spain (-13.4%). "Faced with this situation, we certainly cannot say that significant progress has been made in the electrification of the circulating fleet," comments Gian Primo Quagliano of Centro Studi Promotor.

In the month, Volkswagen sales remained at the 2024 level as well as for Stellantis (-0.5%) although since the beginning of the year the Germans have increased volumes by 4.5% while the Group led pro tempore by John Elkann is down 9.6% compared to the registrations of a year ago, with positive performances however for the Peugeot, Jeep and Alfa Romeo brands. "For the first time in the year we have achieved, with 17.3% (+ 0.1pp vs April 2024), a total U330 (PC + CV) market share that is higher than a year ago," comments a source close to Stellantis, a Group that has seen a slowdown in the downward trend in volumes recorded in recent months, strengthened by a positive trend in orders that exceeded one million units in mid-May, thanks in part to the contribution of Citroën C3/Aircross and Peugeot 3008.

Renault Group consolidates its position in third place among European manufacturers by volume with two points of market share more than Hyundai and three more than Toyota and a positive trend of 7.7% in the four-month period. Saic Motor continued to climb in volumes in the European market and registered registrations up 24% in the month, up 31% since the beginning of the year, to 2.2% market share, exactly the same as Tesla had a year ago, which instead slipped to 1.4%, while registrations were halved in the month, with a market share of 0.7%.

The share of electrics in Western European registrations in January-April 2025 is around 17%, with considerable differences between countries. Looking at the five largest Western European countries, the United Kingdom leads the list in terms of electric car registrations in the first four months of the year (20.7 per cent electric share), followed by France (18.2 per cent), Germany (17.5 per cent), Spain (6.9 per cent) and, at the tail end, Italy (5.1 per cent).