• For every electrified car registered in June, there were only 1.7 diesel cars were registered
• SUVs increased market share to 40%
• Renault Group produces three of the top five models in rankings
Uncertainty continued to spread across the European new car market in June as, according to JATO Dynamics, 1.13m units were registered last month, a year on year drop of 24% compared to the 1.49m new cars registered in June 2019.
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Although that was a large decrease from last year, June saw a positive increase month on month, with the strongest result since February 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the continent.
JATO global analyst Felipe Munoz said: “At the moment, we can’t yet talk about recovery as the pandemic is still present in Europe.
“However, consumers are slowly responding to the new deals, offers and incentives set in place to revive sales.”
Similarly, the results for the first half of 2020 also reflected the chaos caused by the pandemic, as volume totalled 5.09m units, down 39% year on year.
EV growth continues
The global pandemic has accelerated the adoption of electric, hybrid and plug in cars in Europe with diesel and petrol vehicles losing traction as a result.
June was no exception.
While petrol and diesel registrations fell by 32% and 31% respectively, the volume of new EVs registered rose from 111,300 units in June 2019 to 183,300 units last month, up by 65%.
The market share of EVs was 16.2% which closed the gap to less than eight percentage points to the market share for diesel cars.
For every EV registered in June 2020 there were 1.7 diesel cars registered.
Munoz: “Despite the decline in consumer confidence and employment, the new landscape seems to be offering a prime opportunity for electrified cars – one not seen since their introduction.
“The combination of greater offers, better deals, higher incentives, and more consciousness among consumers for a green future, is boosting EV
demand more than ever.”
In June, the three main EV technologies posted strong growth, with hybrids accounting for half of the segment registrations.
Among the most successful hybrids were Suzuki, Ford and Fiat, which, thanks to their mild hybrid technology, were able to outsell other large players such as Kia and Lexus.
The plug in hybrids market was dominated by three premium brands – Volvo, Mercedes and BMW – leaving the previous leader – Mitsubishi – in sixth place.
In the pure electric segment, Renault took first place as its volume more than doubled, in contrast to Tesla in second place given a 42% decline in volume.
450,000 SUVs
Despite the difficult economic landscape, SUVs performed relatively well. Although their registration volume fell by 18%, they were able to increase their market share to 40%.
The largest, most expensive SUVs posted the best performance, with registrations down by only 2% to 24,100 units.
Compact SUVs saw a 21% decrease and were outsold by small SUVs whose volume totalled 184,800 units.
Top sellers
The Volkswagen Golf was knocked down to the second spot for the second time in a row by the Renault Clio. Product availability of the new generation continued to be the main issue for the VW.
The fifth generation Clio is available across all European markets – with its volume accounting for 79% of the model’s total registrations – while the 8G Golf is yet to arrive in every market, resulting in a smaller 28% share of the compact’s total volume.
The Clio was not the only Renault model which performed well in June. The Captur and Dacia Sandero were in third and fourth positions respectively.
The Captur, boosted by a new generation, was also the top selling SUV in Europe during June.
Further down the rankings, the Toyota Yaris also performed well, especially considering the new generation accounted for only 6% of its volume.
Other successes in the month included the Peugeot 2008 (up 10%), Renault Twingo (8%), Volvo XC40 (56% and second top selling premium car), Volkswagen T-Cross (1%), Ford Puma with 10,300 units and Hyundai Kona (14%), Skoda Kamiq with 7,900 units and Volvo XC60 (28%), Mercedes CLA (31%), Kia Niro (27%), Fiat Ducato (62%), and Volvo S60/V60 (up 6%).
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