Europe’s passenger plugin electric car (PEV) registrations suffered a notable year-on-year decline of 29% to 294,166 units in December 2023, EV-Volumes market analyst Jose Pontes reports via CleanTechnica. Notably, it held 28% of the market, down from 38% in 2022.
It must be noted that the decline is only natural to ensue, as there was an inflated customer demand in December 2022 before the incentives expired. Year to date, the region’s PEV registrations managed to record a notable YoY growth.
Plugin car sales – Monthly and YTD
Of the 294,166 total plugin electric car registrations, battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for about 205,922. Meanwhile, plugin electric vehicles (PHEVs) registered about 88,244 units.
| December 2023 Sales | YoY Change | Market Share | |
| BEVs | about 205,922 | down 25% | 20% |
| PHEVs | about 88,244 | down 36% | 8% |
| Total | 294,166 | down 29% | 28% |
As for the full year, Europe’s plugin electric car registrations increased 16% YoY to more than 3 million units.
| YTD Sales | YoY Change | Market Share | |
| BEVs | about *1.84 million | up 16% | 16% |
| PHEVs | about *1.17 million | – | 8% |
| Total | 3,016,880 | up 16% | 24% |
For comparison, Europe’s passenger plugin electric car registrations surpassed 2.6 million units, accounting for 23% of the overall volume in 2022.
Top-selling – Monthly and YTD
As expected, the popular Tesla Model Y led both the monthly and year-to-date rankings in Europe’s top-selling model. Refer to the table below:
| Rankings | Models | December 2023 | Rankings | Models | Jan-Dec 2023 |
| 1 | Tesla Model Y | 25,041 | 1 | Tesla Model Y | 255,062 |
| 2 | Tesla Model 3 | 13,152 | 2 | Tesla Model 3 | 101,313 |
| 3 | MG 4 | 9,196 | 3 | Volkswagen ID.4 | 83,033 |
| 4 | Skoda Enyaq iV | 8,377 | 4 | Skoda Enyaq iV | 78,739 |
| 5 | BMW i4 | 7,731 | 5 | Volvo XC40 | 73,650 (50,839 BEVs + 22,811 PHEVs) |
| 6 | BMW iX1 | 7,285 | 6 | MG 4 | 72,421 |
| 7 | Volkswagen ID.4 | 7,106 | 7 | Audi Q4 e-tron | 69,529 |
| 8 | Fiat 500 electric | 6,385 | 8 | Fiat 500 electric | 64,579 |
| 9 | Audi Q4 e-tron | 5,516 | 9 | Volkswagen ID.3 | 63,475 |
| 10 | Dacia Spring | 5,208 | 10 | Dacia Spring | 59,331 |
Top brands
The Tesla Model Y’s unstoppable dominance enabled the Musk-led electric automaker to beat even local brands in the European market in 2023.
| Rankings | Brands | Share |
| 1 | Tesla | 12.1% |
| 2 | BMW | 8.8% |
| 3 | Volkswagen | 8.2% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz | 7.8% |
| 5 | Audi | 5.8% |
| 6 | Volvo | 5.6% |
Top automotive groups
German legacy automaker Volkswagen led the top-selling automotive group rankings with a 21.2% share through December 2023.
| Rankings | Auto Group | Share |
| 1 | Volkswagen Group | 21.2% share (Volkswagen brand at 8.2%) |
| 2 | Stellantis | 13.1% |
| 3 | Tesla | 12.1% |
| 4 | BMW Group | 10.4% share (BMW brand at 8.8%) |
| 5 | Mercedes-Benz Group | 8.4% (Mercedes-Benz brand at 7.8%) |
| 6 | Hyundai Motor Group | 8.3% |
The decline in plugin electric car sales in December 2023 only highlights the significance of incentives to entice customers to join the shift to e-mobility. Such initiatives will play a significant role in Europe’s goal to hit a 90% net GHG emissions reduction from 1990 levels by 2040, as indicated by the European Commission.
