Fuel types of new cars: diesel -18.2%, petrol +15.2%, electric +30.0% in third quarter of 2018

Brussels, 8 November 2018 – In the third quarter of 2018, almost 58% of all new passenger cars sold in the EU ran on petrol, while roughly one third was fuelled by diesel. All alternatively-powered vehicles (APV) combined accounted for 7.8% of the market, and just 2% of cars registered across the EU during the third quarter of 2018 was electrically-chargeable (ECV).

Petrol and diesel cars

Petrol’s market share increased by almost 7 percentage points compared to the third quarter of 2017, now accounting for almost 58% of the market. Demand for petrol cars increased in all the EU member states – except Sweden – growing by 15.2% in the region.

At the same time, diesel car sales declined in most of the EU countries except Denmark, Romania, Bulgaria and Poland. As a result, the share of diesel cars fell from 43.1% to 34.7% of the market compared to the same quarter one year ago.

Alternatively-powered vehicles (APV)

In the third quarter of 2018, demand for alternatively-powered cars in the European Union continued to post strong growth (+29.7%), mostly driven by the strong performance of battery (+37.4%), hybrid (+37.1%) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (+24.5%). Demand for LPG and NGV vehicles also increased – up 11.8% in the third quarter of the year – supported by growth of both natural gas and propane-fuelled cars.

Demand for alternatively-powered vehicles significantly increased in all the major EU markets. APV registrations saw the highest percentage gains in Spain (+62.5%) – thanks to a notable uplift in the LPG and NGV segments – and Germany (+51.4%).

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About ACEA

  • The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) represents the 14 major Europe-based car, van, truck and bus makers: BMW Group, DAF Trucks, Daimler Truck, Ferrari, Ford of Europe, Honda Motor Europe, Hyundai Motor Europe, Iveco Group, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Renault Group, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen Group, and Volvo Group.
  • Visit www.acea.auto for more information about ACEA, and follow us on www.twitter.com/ACEA_auto or www.linkedin.com/company/ACEA/.
  • Contact: Francesca Piazza, Senior Statistics Manager, fp@acea.auto.

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About the EU automobile industry

  • 13.0 million Europeans work in the automotive sector
  • 11.5% of all manufacturing jobs in the EU
  • €374.6 billion in tax revenue for European governments
  • €101.9 billion trade surplus for the European Union
  • Over 7% of EU GDP generated by the auto industry
  • €59.1 billion in R&D spending annually, 31% of EU total
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